Ronnie O'Sullivan's favourite referee 'couldn't breathe' during intense Crucible moment

A popular referee admitted she couldn't breathe as she took charge of a huge match at the Tatiana Woollaston, one of the sport's top officials, is again on duty at the Crucible.

She first took charge of matches at the iconic theatre at the 2020 tournament, which was mostly played behind closed doors because of the pandemic. Last year, she had the honour of overseeing a single-table match for the first time, the semi-final between David Gilbert and Kyren Wilson. Once hailed by as "best ref in the world by a mile", she went on to take charge of this season's UK Championship final between and Barry Hawkins. "The Crucible was a great, great moment," said Woollaston, whose husband Ben plays in the first round on Wednesday.

"Walking out there, you understand what people say about it. Until you actually experience it, you don't quite understand what makes the arena so special.

"I walked out, it's full, it's the semi-final of the World Championship. It's so quiet and so intimate and I'm the one who has to speak, to announce the frame and announce the score. It's very intimidating. For the first frame, I couldn't breathe. It was like, 'Wow, this is what it's all about'.

"The closeness of the people and the atmosphere, where you can't hear a thing, just me counting, it's incredible. It took me a few frames to relax and start enjoying it. It's amazing and I understand everyone who says the Crucible is the best arena we've got, it's very special."

Having overseen a Triple Crown final and a semi-final, it has been a landmark year for Woollaston, 38. However, she isn't one for keeping stats of memorable moments.

"If you ask me how many years I've been a ref, how many matches I've done, I'm so bad," she admitted. "I just live in the moment and enjoy it as it comes.

"Some of my colleagues have spreadsheets for every game, every century, every player, all kinds of stats. I'm not for that, I live in the moment and enjoy it. As soon as I'm off the table, I forget and move on to the next one. But I always say to people, 'I wish you have something in life you love as much as I do in snooker'."

To the surprise of many, refereeing is Woollaston's passion rather than full-time job. Despite being a regular at major tournaments, the mum-of-two squeezes in a day job as a merchandiser for Next, whose head office is in Leicester.

"Refereeing is my hobby," she said. "It's a great company to work for and they're very supportive of my refereeing career.

"They've been flexible with giving me time off when I need to go away or I sometimes work from hotel rooms rather than come into the office. They're really proud to see me on TV."