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Shaun Murphy

Murphy was a model of consistency last season – reaching a remarkable five consecutive ranking event semi-finals, a feat not achieved since Stephen Hendry in his mid-1990s prime. However, Murphy may well have swapped all of those semis for one ranking title – as the only silverware he finished the season with was from the invitational Malta Cup.
He started his run at the Royal London Watches Grand Prix, when he led Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-2 in the semis, only for the Rocket to fly back for a 6-5 victory.
Murphy then lost by the same scoreline in the Northern Ireland trophy to Stephen Maguire, and came off second best again to Maguire at the Maplin UK Championship, this time 9-5.
On to the Welsh Open and again the last four proved Murphy’s stumbling black as he went down 6-3 to O’Sullivan. At the Honghe Industrial China Open he finally broke that barrier by seeing off Mark Selby 6-3 to reach the final in Beijing. A tremendous contest followed against Maguire, with Murphy eventually succumbing 10-9 after a dramatic deciding frame.
By virtue of his supreme consistency, Murphy topped the provisional world rankings going into the 888.com World Snooker Championship. But his Crucible campaign ended prematurely with defeat to Ali Carter in the second round, and he finished up retaining his official world No 3 spot.
The highlight of the Rotherham cueman’s season came in the Mediterranean as he won the Malta Cup for the second consecutive year – although technically he did not retain the title as the previous season it had been a ranking event.
After progressing through the initial round robin phase, he came from 3-0 down to beat Ding Junhui 6-5 before beating Ken Doherty 9-3 in the final.
He had enjoyed a similarly comfortable victory in the final at the Hilton in Portomaso the previous year, seeing off Ryan Day 9-4.
"I have shown people that I am not a flash in the pan and I am a winner of tournaments – plural," said Murphy on that occasion. "When I won at the Crucible there was a lot of expectation that came with it, suddenly I was among the favourites for every tournament. It has taken me a while to repeat that success and when you have experienced the highs of winning, it’s hard to accept mediocrity.”
At the 2007 Welsh Open, in a first round match against Jamie Cope, Murphy made century breaks in each of the first four frames (135, 123, 102, 101) – the first time that had been achieved in a ranking best-of-nine match.
Murphy rewrote snooker’s history books with his extraordinary victory at the Crucible in 2005. As the world No 48, he was the lowest ranked player ever to win snooker’s biggest title. He was also the second youngest winner, after Stephen Hendry in 1990, and the second ever qualifier, after Terry Griffiths in 1979.
His route to the final took him past Chris Small, John Higgins, Davis and Ebdon then he came from 10-6 down overnight to beat Stevens 18-16, finishing the match in style with breaks of 97 and 83 in the last two frames.  Viewing figures on BBC Sport peaked at 7.8 million.
Recognised as a prodigious talent in his junior days on account of his exceptionally straight cue action, long potting and break-building skills, Murphy was one of the first six World Snooker Young Players of Distinction and won the YPD of the Year award in 2001.
In 2000 he won the B&H Snooker Championship, overcoming Stuart Bingham 9-7 in the final, to earn a wild-card entry to the Masters.
Away from the table, Murphy is a fanatical golfer and plays to a single figure handicap. He enjoys music and is an accomplished piano player.
His other hobbies include travelling the world with wife Clare. They are both Christians and headed to Zimbabwe during the summer to raise money for charity and donate clothes to children.

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