Neil Robertson (born February 11th, 1982) is an Australian professional snooker player.
He started his snooker career at a young age. Aged just 14, he became the youngest player to make a century break in an Australian ranking event. Then, when he was 17, he reached the third qualifying round of the World Championship.
In July 2003, Robertson won the World Under-21 Snooker Championship in New Zealand. This earned him a vital wildcard spot on the subsequent WPBSA Main Tour, where he is now an established figure.
He first qualified for the final stages of the World Snooker Championship in 2005, losing 10-7 to Stephen Hendry. With Quinten Hann having also qualified, Australia had 2 players in the event for the first time since 1991. In total he won 25 matches in 2004-2005, reaching the final stages of 6 of the 8 tournaments, despite having to play at least 2 qualifying matches for each of those.
In 2005/2006 he continued to progress, moving up to the top 16 of the rankings at the end of the season. He reached a semi-final of a ranking event for the first time. He has also reached 4 quarter-finals in his career, including the 2006 World Championships, in which he fought back from 12-8 to 12-12 against eventual champion Graeme Dott, before losing the final frame by inadvertently potting the final pink, which he needed on the table in his attempts to get a snooker out of his Scottish rival.
