Shaun Murphy says he is now in the ‘legacy building’ stage of his career as he prepares for next week’s Dafabet Masters at the Alexandra Palace in London. ‘The Magician’ was crowned champion of the world in 2005 at the Crucible and, in 2015, he completed his set of snooker’s Triple Crown events by demolishing Neil Robertson 10-2 to win the Masters.
Murphy would dearly love to win the marquee events again and he comes into the invite-only Masters having reached the final of last month’s UK Championship in York, where he lost out 10-5 to Ronnie O’Sullivan. “I’m definitely in the legacy building stage of my career now. I can sleep easy knowing I have won the Triple Crown and not many others have,” he told World Snooker. “It would be lovely to win them again. I relished every second of the final in York. I want to be involved in more of those occasions and hopefully next time, I can come out on top.” Murphy, UK champion in 2008, has already reached four finals in ranking events this season, with his sole success coming in the Champions of Champions decider in Coventry in November when he bested O’Sullivan 10-8.
He admits his conversion rate in finals isn’t to his pleasing, but his belief is fuelled by the consistency he has displayed during the first half of the season. “There’s no doubt it has been the best first half to a season I have ever had in my life. Of course it would’ve been nice to have won more of the finals I’ve been in so far this season,” he added. “One out of four is a lower strike rate then I’d have hoped for. But without being too critical it has been a great start to the season. I think whatever I have been doing is working.” Murphy faces Ali Carter in his Masters opener, a game he is 4/9 to win while he can be backed at 12/1 to win the title in London.
Dafabet Masters odds available at Dafabet.