Shaun Murphy Blog – Reflections on a good week
Hi everyone and first of all, a big thanks to everyone for their support during the Masters. The messages I got here on the website, through your emails and tweets meant a lot to me.
All in all, it was a fantastic week both on and off the table – the only thing that was wrong with it was the result in the final! But to come second to a fantastic player like Neil Robertson is no disgrace and he was a worthy winner.
To be honest, if you’d said to me at the start of the week that I would come runner-up in an event that I’ve not traditionally done well in, I’d have probably taken it.
It’s busy, busy, busy from now on until the end of the season and to know that my game is in good shape gives me a lot of confidence going into the upcoming German Masters and Welsh Open etc.
From a snooker perspective, the best thing about last week was that all the good things I’ve been practising really started to come through in tournament play. I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing and hopefully give myself more chances to do well.
Before those tournaments, we’ve got the Shoot-out in Blackpool this weekend. In fact, this afternoon, Nigel Bond and I have been doing a bit of promotional work at a snooker club in Blackpool, both for the event and the Paul Hunter Foundation.
I’m playing Fergal O’Brien in my first-round match on Saturday, but will be eagerly watching on Friday night when the tournament gets underway. The form book doesn’t really count for this event as just about anything can happen in these 10-minute frames.
Last year was the first Shoot-out and I didn’t hear a single bit of criticism from the players. I lost out in the first round to Rory McLeod but went home and watched the whole event – just like pretty much everyone else did. It was great fun and I’m looking forward to getting stuck into it this weekend.
