Shaun Murphy reveals he was ready to quit sport – ‘Do I have a career in snooker any more?’

The man dubbed ‘The Magician’ felt he was back on the right path at the UK Championship in November despite losing 6-1 to an inspired Jack Lisowski in the quarter-finals.

He was narrowly defeated 9-7 by Robert Milkins in the Welsh Open final before claiming his 10th career ranking title at the elite 16-man Players event that included running in 11 blistering centuries from an overall haul of 25 compiled.

“Probably at the UK Championship (last November, in York) I saw some green shoots of improvement, and that was enough for me, to show I was on the right path.

“The form that I showed at the Players Championship in Wolverhampton, if you could bottle that we would all be a lot happier.”

Murphy, who has also lost world finals in 2009, 2015 and 2021, hopes life begins at 40 as he prepares to face Milkins in the first round of the Tour Championship in a repeat of their Welsh Open over the best-of-17 frames on Wednesday.

He admits a weight has been lifted off his mind after taking on board the comments of six-time world champion Steve Davis to shed the excess timber.

“There’s a lot of gastric surgery you can have and this is probably the most extreme. I wish I had done it years ago,” said Murphy.

“I have battled with my weight all my life, and at the back end of last year’s World Championship my weight had ballooned to the heaviest I had ever been.

“It was definitely affecting my game, definitely affecting my health.

“I already had the surgery booked in, but saw an interview with Steve Davis at the Crucible. He was actually talking about another player, not about me, who was struggling with his weight.

“Steve made the comment that a lot of players pay the price on the table, but they are not paying the price off the table.

“They are not in great shape, they are not physically fit, they are not healthy. They can’t reach over the table, they are not slim. These things aren’t as important in snooker as they are in gymnastics, but they are important.

“Steve made the point, if you look at players over the history of the game, the ones who have been successful, they all have that thing in common.

“I already had the surgery booked at that time, but remember thinking I have definitely done the right thing. It has completely changed my life.”

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