Shaun Murphy says the moment got to him as he missed a key ball in the deciding frame of his 3-2 defeat to Mark Selby at the British Open, with the chance to avenge his World Championship final defeat just too much.
The 2021 Crucible finalists renewed their rivalry in the opening round of the British Open on Tuesday as Murphy looked for a small measure of revenge for his defeat to Selby in Sheffield.
It wasn’t to be for the Magician, who scrapped from behind in the fourth frame to force a decider but then spurned a decent opportunity in the final stanza, missing a tricky black to allow Selby to step in and progress to the second round.
Murphy has played on the biggest stages and won the biggest titles the sport has to offer, but the pressure struck on that shot, with the 18-15 defeat at the Crucible weighing heavily on him.
‘Mark and I have been playing best of fives since we were children, that was reminiscent of Willie Thorne’s under-14s 30 years ago. I think I was the better player as a kid, but I’m not now,’ Murphy told Metro.co.uk.
‘On the quiet I’ve tried hard to get ready for the start of the season, the last four or five weeks I’ve been really on it.
‘I did get my chance but I twitched the black, it was just too big a moment, too early in the season for me having lost to him in the final a few months ago.
‘To get the chance to beat him having worked so hard in that break to just finish behind the black, it meant too much and I missed it.’
The British Open is using a random draw this season, which is why the two players in the world’s top five met in the first round.
A best-of-five in the opening round against the world champion does not sound ideal, but Murphy has no complaints, glad to have a tournament on and actually a big fan of the random draw.
‘The world final took 17 days of crescendo to get within three of the line, you start three from the line here,’ he said. ‘I suppose that’s the nature of the beast. It is what it is.
‘The critics of this event must remember the times that we’re working in, we’re lucky to have the event at all. I prepared as well as I could, gave it my best, onto the next.’
On the draw, he added: ‘I wrote a document nearly 10 years ago, a bit of a blog piece, recommending things that I thought would make the tour a better place.
‘Random draws was one of those things. I’m all for it. It’s interesting, it generates headlines, talking points. I think some people within the game don’t understand the current seeding structure. Everyone in a hat, pull a name out, I think is exciting. I’d love to see more of it.’
The Magician went as far to say that current seeding systems hurt snooker and random draws will improve the reputation of the sport.
‘I don’t like protection in sport,’ he said. ‘I’ve never agreed with it. I don’t think the top 16 should be seeded through to the Crucible Theatre.
‘All the players on the tour should start in the first round of every event. I’m not sure we as a sport can be taken especially seriously while we have the current seeding structure in place.
‘Usain Bolt doesn’t start 10m ahead of everyone else. I’ve always found it a funny one. Should every tournament be random draw? Perhaps not, but it’s a funny one that the biggest event of all is like that.’
MORE : Shaun Murphy joins string of top 16 players in early British Open exits
MORE : Judd Trump: Mark Selby might become world number one but clearly I’ve been the best player
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