Philosophical Murphy reflects on narrow world final loss: "You can do your own head in a bit"

Murphy was narrowly denied his second world snooker championship title - 21 years on from his first - when he was pipped 18-17 by Chinese youngster Wu Yize in an epic encounter at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield earlier this month.

It was the first time since 2002 that the sport’s biggest fixture went to a deciding frame, and the outcome resulted in 22-year-old Wu - the same age Murphy was when he claimed the title - becoming the youngest non-UK winner of the blue riband prize.

Going back-to-back for his country following Zhao Xintong’s historic triumph twelve months earlier, Wu became the fourth maiden winner of the crown in as many years - the first time that has happened in the history of the near 100-year-old Championship.

Less than a fortnight on from that green baize heartbreak, Murphy was back in competitive action on Friday afternoon as he took part in the inaugural Snooker 900 Global Championship at the aptly named Crucible Sports and Social Club in Reading.

Before his opening match against recent world seniors finalist Joe Perry - by whom he would be defeated 5-3 - Murphy spoke to Pluto TV, and it appears that withdrawing from this competition was never considered, despite his 17-day Crucible marathon.

“Listen, I've been playing snooker since I was a child, I wouldn't be doing anything else, right? I'm not good at anything else” said the 43-year-old.

“I haven't played a lot of snooker since the final, I had a couple of shows last week and my diary is very busy but my cue wouldn't have been overused in the last few days,”

Having briefly slipped outside of the world’s elite top 16 rankings early in the campaign, Murphy was one of this season’s standout performers, reaching four ranking event finals and lifting silverware at the British Open last September.

At the Crucible, ‘The Magician’ escaped a close call with qualifier Fan Zhengyi in the opening round - coming through on the final pink in the deciding frame - before crushing Xiao Guodong with a session to spare in the last 16, and then inflicting the ‘Crucible Curse’ on then title holder Zhao Xintong in the quarter-finals.

In the semi-finals, Murphy was involved in another classic as he took the final four frames to defeat four-time champion John Higgins, 17-15.

That put him through to his fifth world championship final at the Crucible, although he ultimately had to settle for silver for the fourth consecutive time (2009, 2015, 2021, 2026).

“It takes a bit of getting over that loss. Unfortunately I've lost in the world championship final four times now, and it's not getting any easier to deal with losing that match. It's the toughest match to lose, mentally and physically.

“Thankfully, I've got my 2005 to hold on to, but to come so close was difficult” said the Englishman.

Murphy - who will start the 2026/27 professional snooker season as the world number six - has re-visited the final, although refuses to be drawn into analysing it too much: “It was a great match. I think for the neutral and anyone looking in, for the guys who were there in the crowd and watching from home around the world it was a fabulous match.

“And I've tried to sort of tentatively go through it and work out where I went right, where I went wrong, and actually, I've stopped doing it, because you can do your own head in a bit with it.”

A gracious Murphy seems at peace with what transpired, and congratulated the new champion of the world: “We all make mistakes. Of course there were mistakes on both sides, but actually, it was a great match, played in great spirit for two days and what a champion we've got.

“I think what I can say is that I don't feel like I lost it, I felt like Wu won it.

“I can just about remember it being 22 myself and stealing that trophy for 12 months. I wish him all the best, he's going to have the year of his life and we're all going to chase him down.”