Snooker referee Tatiana Woollaston has been praised for an act of kindness towards Wu Yize at the Crucible. The 39-year-old has officiated at the World Snooker Championship since making her tournament debut in 2020.
New world champion Wu clinched the title with a dramatic 18-17 victory over Shaun Murphy on Monday. The 22-year-old earned the £500,000 top prize and also defeated the likes of Mark Selby and Mark Allen on his journey to the final.
His World Snooker Championship victory has seen Wu move to No.4 in the rankings, with his composure at the Crucible suggesting there could be many more ranking titles to come. However, a short behind-the-scenes clip with referee Woollaston served as a reminder of Wu’s relatively young age, despite his calmness under pressure.
The footage showed Woollaston, who Ronnie O'Sullivan has lauded in the past, helping Wu with his bow tie. The camera followed John Higgins as he made his way backstage, then panned to the official straightening Wu’s tie and folding down his collar.
The heartwarming moment ended with Wu politely responding, “Thank you”, before heading into the event office. Fans in attendance would have been unaware of the small gesture before seeing the Chinese star in action during the tournament.
The clip has since surfaced on social media and Woollaston has been lauded for quietly helping Wu. In a post on X, she said: “Even had messages from my work colleagues in China with this clip. Things you do as a snooker ref.”
The replies from fans were overwhelmingly positive, with one writing: “I love this. And love that Wu wears a proper dickiebow.” Another said: “What a beautiful moment.”
Others joked that the mother-of-two’s natural parental instincts had led to the interaction. A third fan posted: “That's such a mummy thing to do. Hahaha. Good on you.” A fourth wrote: “Mammy mode kicked in.”
A fifth fan added: “Once a mum, always a mum.” While another simply described the moment as “superb”.
Snooker legend O’Sullivan previously described Woollaston as being the “best ref in the world by a mile”. The Belarusian official oversaw her first Triple Crown final at the UK Championship in 2024.
However, Tatiana is banned from refereeing one player on the snooker circuit. She is married to professional player Ben Woollaston and cannot officiate his matches. The couple have two sons together.
Discussing the situation in 2024, Tatiana explained: “He's on the circuit as a player, I'm on the circuit as a referee. We've never really mix that. I'm obviously not allowed to referee his games and I wouldn't want to, to be fair.”
In terms of balancing work and family life, she added: “Ben's career is immensely important, but he would never say no to me going to any snooker events because he knows how much I love it. If he's out of the event, he'll take over doing school pick-ups and homework. We work around each other while Ben's mum plays a big role helping us with the kids.”
