Shaun Murphy felt like 'broken force' but Masters glory has changed everything

01/25/2025 05:28 AM

Shaun Murphy credits Peter Ebdon for guiding him to a spectacular second Masters triumph, which has stopped him feeling like a ‘broken force’ on the table.

The Magician was in stunning form at Alexandra Palace as he beat Gary Wilson, Neil Robertson, Mark Allen and then world champion Kyren Wilson in the final.

It was the second time Murphy has claimed the Masters title but his first Triple Crown success for 10 years and he admits that his confidence and self-belief had taken a battering over the last decade.

The 42-year-old said after beating Wilson that he had almost given up hope of winning snooker’s biggest titles again, but working with mentor Ebdon has reignited his confidence and quickly seen him hit the heights again.

The Magician says his mindset had badly eroded before starting work with Ebdon this season, to the point that he felt it was a problem that could not be fixed.

‘The stats don't tell lies. I haven't won as many Triple Crown events as some of my colleagues,’ Murphy told Metro.

‘Neil Robertson, Mark Selby, we're a similar age category and turned pro at a similar time and they've streaked ahead. They've each won probably double the ranking events I've won. They've won multiple Triple Crown events, beaten me in finals of those Triple Crown events, so I just thought I'd missed the boat.

‘I thought that's not going to be my path. I was very happy with my one of each and very proud of that. Most players would consider that an epic career and I'm no different. I just thought I was a bit old and those negative voices creep in.

‘They talk about confidence and when you're feeling good you feel like you can pot anything, but the reverse of that is also true and when you're struggling you don't think you can pot anything.

‘I've sat there in matches hoping that my opponent clears the table, because you don't want to embarrass yourself coming back to the table only to mess up again. Please put me to bed!

‘That's a long way from the thought processes of a winner. To some degree I thought that once that negativity infects your mind and infects your self-belief it will always be there.

‘There's some days where you cope with it better than others, but you've changed from being a confident force to a broken force. You might have the odd good day but you are broken. It's in and you can't get rid of it.’

It appears that he has got rid of it, though, with the words of the 2002 world champion working wonders.

‘I feel like Peter Ebdon has stripped me back to brick in a very short space of time,’ said Murphy. ‘He saw through some of the outer shell and into my soul and has stripped me of all my defences and got right to the heart of the issue very quickly, it's amazing.

‘The partnership has borne fruit far quicker than I could have imagined and hopefully we're just getting started. There's plenty of room in my trophy cabinet.’

Murphy now, rightly, feels that he is part of a small and special group of players to have not only completed the Triple Crown but won one multiple times.

‘It's strange for me because I've not won the same event twice that often,’ he said. ‘I think I won the Malta Cup twice, but I'm really racking my brains to think of events I've won more than once.

‘I won the UK Under-15s three years on the bounce! I was very good when I was 12 and 13, that's one of the few I've won more than once.

‘To get to call myself a multiple Masters champion is something that I genuinely thought would never happen for me. I'd kind of resigned myself to being a one-time winner of these majors. Which is still very good, I was delighted with that, but I never thought I'd say I was multiple Masters champion.

‘There's something different about players who have won these events multiple times, but I never thought I'd get to put myself in that bracket. I still can't believe it.’

The work is not done for the world number seven, far from it, as he wants to make the most of the form he found at Ally Pally and add plenty more trophies to his CV.

He has won an impressive 12 ranking titles over the last 20 years, but has rarely been a regular, consistent winner at any one time, which he intends to change right now, starting with next week’s German Masters.

‘That's something I've never been good at in my career, going all the way back to being a boy,’ he said. ‘As a child learning how to be a winner, I would win and then enjoy that win for a bit too long, take my foot off the gas.

‘Snooker is one of the few sports that you win money as a kid, and we had nothing when I was a kid, we had very little as a family, my parents needed the money that I won. But there would be a little treat in there somewhere. I'd visit a Toys R Us on a Monday after winning the Willie Thone's Under-12s and get a Star Trek model to stick on the ceiling and really enjoyed the spoils of my win.

‘But it's been like that in my pro career, I've had wins and success and then sat back and enjoyed them and missed the boat.

‘This time I'm determined not to do that. I've had a couple of days off but I've already been back on the practice table to try and continue whatever it is that Peter and I have found, whatever it is that's working, I'm trying to make it stronger and hone it.

‘I'm not saying I'm going to win the German Masters, but I'm trying purposefully this time to try and continue this vein of form.’