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Shaun's one-derful!
The 888.com World Snooker Championship start this weekend. Tonight The Star looks at the career of Rotherham-based World No 1 Shaun Murphy.
Shaun Murphy has had a rapid rise from the moment he turned professional at the age of 14 - just eight years later he was lifting the World Championship trophy.
He was the second player in the history of the sport, after Terry Griffiths, to win the ultimate prize having progressed to the latter stagesthrough several qualifying matches.
That success took him into the top 16 for the first time in his career and he has stayed in the upper echelons ever since.
Indeed, he enters this weekend's event as provisional world number one, coming on the back of a final appearance in the China Open - losing 10-9 to Stephen Maguire.
"I'm disappointed to lose after playing well all week, but I've really enjoyed my time in China and I've no regrets," Murphy said.
"It's been great preparation for me for the World Championship. I'm very pleased to be on top at the moment, but it doesn't mean anything unless I can stay there until the end of the season," he added. His opening match is against Dave Harold, whose years of experience and several appearances at the Crucible make him a tough draw for someone making only his fourth trip to Sheffield.
Harold has had a successful season, reaching the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters and qualifying for the UK Championship in Telford in which he beat ex-World champion Graeme Dott in the first round to reach the last 16.
However, Murphy has been highly consistent and is one of the most feared opponents on the circuit, reaching at least the semi-finals of the last five ranking tournaments.
"I have shown people I am not a flash in the pan and I am a winner of tournaments - plural," he said, after winning the Malta Cup in 2006.
"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."
The 25-year-old's confidence will be high going into the event, which begins in Sheffield tomorrow.
Only three people since the glory days of Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry have won more than one World title - John Higgins, Mark Williams and Ronnie O'Sullivan - and Murphy is determined to join that exclusive band.
This year could be his best chance as he has been placed in what most people will see as the easier half of the draw.
If he gets past Harold, his second match would be against either Ali Carter or Barry Hawkins, with a possible quarter-final match-up against Mark Selby, Mark King, Peter Ebdon or Jamie Cope.
Of those, in-form Selby is the one most likely to cause Murphy problems in reaching his sixth ranking semi-final of the year.
What do you think? Post your comments below.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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