Disappointed Murphy ‘fears the Crucible’
L Former champion admits nerves are a big problem after he loses in first round
It is 13 years since Shaun Murphy took snooker by storm and became world champion.
Since then it has been a tale of near misses and heartaches, the latest a final-frame firstround defeat by Jamie Jones. That led the 35-year-old Murphy to admit he now feels “frightened” when he walks out at the Crucible .
Murphy led the unseeded Welshman 5-2 and 8-5 but still succumbedtoa10-9defeatand with it an early Betfred World Snooker Championship exit.
If bad memories are holding Murphy back then Jones will loom large in his nightmares – the 30-year-old also having beaten him at this stage six years ago.
“I am just pleased I won this tournament early on when I did not know what I was doing. I had no battle scars then and did not really understand fear,” Murphy said. “I am a bit older now and a bit more frightened. It is not easy.”
Murphy may not have been one of the favourites in the build-up to the event but, with world No 1 Mark Selby having crashed out on day one, the top half of the draw had opened up.
Resuming 5-4 up, Murphy took control and moved to 8-5 thanks to back-to-back centuries before the interval.
But Jones battled back and took advantage of a nervous Murphy error at the end to clinch a famous win – his first here in six years.
“I think it is my best win. I have never faced pressure like that. I have played plenty of deciders but from frame one the pressure in this match was huge,” said Jones, who now goes on to face Kyren Wilson.
Elsewhere, Mark Allen hit out at World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn after he beat Liam Highfield 10-5.
Hearn issued a statement last week saying football shirts were no longer welcome in a bid to clean up the sport’s image.
Yet Masters champion Allen shook the hand of famous fan Brian Wright – known for wearing a Coventry top every year since 1989 but forced to change on Saturday.
“Look, the world has gone nuts if you can’t wear a football top and come in,” he said.
“I saw Barry’s reason was for the image of the sport. For me, would you rather a big crowd with everyone wearing a football top or go to China, like we do, and play in front of three people and a dog?
“It is a ridiculous statement to make and I am sure he could have come up with a better reason than that. I put a tweet up with me in a football shirt so I feel like I am one up on Barry.” l Watch the snooker World Championship live on Eurosport and Eurosport Player with Colin Murray and analysis from Ronnie O’sullivan, Jimmy White and Neal Foulds.