Shaun out to silence boo-boys
Shaun Murphy says he has the inner strength to overcome his sudden unpopularity with sections of the Crucible crowd.
Murphy, the 2005 champion, will fight it out with Australian Neil Robertson today for a place in the final of the Betfred.com world championship.
He has shown scintillating form this year in Sheffield - but Murphy’s bid to claim a second world title has been marred by off-table incidents. It is all a far cry from when 150-1 outsider Murphy surged to a shock triumph on a tidal wave of local support from nearby Whiston.
Before this tournament began, his estranged wife Clare threatened to serve him divorce papers in the arena. His in-laws were asked to leave the venue before Murphy’s first-round tie and he was booed in his next match against Marco Fu.
Two spectators were ejected for heckling him against Robertson, but world No 3 Murphy is adamant he can deal with the flak and surged into a 9-7 lead last night.
He said: “I’m not interested what people say, I’m here to play snooker. That is all that matters. Since I’ve been a professional people have been talking about me, people have been writing about my snooker, now they are writing about other things.
“The people around me know how much I want this and how hard I’ve been working since I was a child. Anyone who thinks coming and booing me is going to knock me off my course doesn’t know me.
“I walked out and I heard those people. It was very upsetting and I had a simple decision to make. I could either let it inspire me, or sit on my chair, have a bit of a cry, ask them to leave and start again and let them achieve what they wanted to achieve.
“I’m not prepared to do that, because it’s too important."
