A winner of the England under-15 championship in 1998, Selby joined the professional tour a year later at the age of 16 in 1999. In early 2002, he reached the semi-finals of the China Open, despite leaving his hotel room at 2 a.m. instead of 2 p.m. for one of his matches because of jetlag. In April 2003, aged 19, he reached his first ranking final at the Scottish Open, where he finished runner-up to David Gray, earning himself a place in the top 32 for the first time. He progressed to the final round of qualifying at the World Snooker Championships in both 2002 and 2003, but failed to qualify for the knockout stages at the Crucible Theatre on both occasions.