This afternoon, at 1 pm local time, Ronnie will play Mark Selby in the first quarter final of the Masters 2016. Going by what we have seen in the last 16, this will be a tough tough match for Ronnie to win. Mark Selby was impressive against Ricky Walden although he wasn’t really tested. Ronnie certainly looked vulnerable against Mark Williams and his long potting in particular wasn’t what it should be to compete at the highest level. Mark Selby is the favourite today.

That said, Ronnie was in the practice area for a long session yesterday: he was already there when I arrived around noon and only returned to the media room around the time the afternoon match finished. There is no doubts that he’s going to try his best, he prepared as well as he could certainly.

If Ronnie loses, please remember that this is only a match of snooker. If you are a Ronnie fan, you may be disappointed -he will certainly be – but get some perspective and refrain from slagging either players off. They are both out to try to win. The Selby fans will be happy, no doubts, and the same message goes on to them too. Ronnie and Mark are fierce rivals but they respect each other, they are very different persons, but they don’t hate each other. I’m asking the fans from both who wish to comment on this site to be fair to the players and civil to other fans.

And if Ronnie wins, happy days for me … but all the same, I won’t tolerate any disparaging comment regarding Mark Selby on this site.