Shaun Murphy: 'Snooker is my absolute first love, my passion'

The 2005 world champion on living with fame, that tabloid exposé, divorce, depression, death threats and his resurgence of form

FLYING HIGH: Shaun Murphy celebrates defeating Neil Robertson during day one of the Cazoo Masters at Alexandra Palace in January. Pic: PA

“My wife says I should be in the corner of the room, dribbling away,” Shaun Murphy suggests with a smile as he revisits some tumultuous moments in his life which include violent bullying, becoming a snooker pro at 15, winning the world championship as a 150-1 outsider, bible-readings, a sex worker and tabloid exposé, divorce, estrangement from his father, depression, death threats, being called the Magician, obesity, surgery and a sudden resurgence of form in the game which consumes him.

We’re in the Crucible, that hushed and venerable site of the snooker world championships which have just begun in Sheffield. Murphy has reached four finals here, winning his first in 2005, and the world No 4 enters the tournament with the certainty that, in his words, “no one’s playing better snooker than me right now”.