At the beginning of 2020, he lost in the first round of the Masters against Ali Carter in January, and failed to qualify at the German Masters later the same month. At the European Masters, he lost in the second round to Barry Hawkins; after losing the first four frames, he staged a comeback to level at 4–4 but then lost the deciding frame. He qualified for the World Grand Prix, where he lost 3–4 to Xiao Guodong in the first round despite making two centuries. In February, Selby reached the quarter-final stage of the last Home Nations event, the Welsh Open, where he was defeated 1–5 by Ronnie O'Sullivan. He also qualified for the Players Championship, based on the one-year ranking list; in the first round, he whitewashed Mark Williams 6–0, but was then knocked out in the quarter-finals by Stephen Maguire in a deciding frame 5–6. In March, he also participated at the Gibraltar Open, but was eliminated in the third round by Lyu Haotian 1–4.