Shaun Murphy credits former world champion for bringing back his belief
Shaun Murphy feels his link-up with former world champion Peter Ebdon has helped bring back his self-belief, as he soars into the semi-finals at the Masters.
The Magician was in excellent form on Thursday as he beat Neil Robertson 6-2 at Alexandra Palace to book his spot in the final four.
It nearly ended in perfect fashion as he potted 15 reds and blacks in the eighth frame before snookering himself on the yellow and ending his hopes of a first Triple Crown 147.
It was an excellent display, though, following a strong showing in his opening round against Gary Wilson, with his hopes of landing a second Masters title very much alive.
Murphy has been working with 2002 world champ Ebdon this season, and he feels that having the 54-year-old in his corner has been hugely beneficial to his mindset.
‘I’ve been really delighted with the partnership with Peter,’ Murphy told the BBC after beating Robertson. ‘It’s been a lovely circle of life that Peter and I are now working together after I watched him make his debut in the Worlds in 1992, it’s a nice story.
‘The one thing he’s given me, helped me find, is that belief. Actually I can do this. It’s easy to let those negative thoughts creep in where you’ve had a few bad results, where you’ve not been lifting the trophies. It’s easy for those negatives to take over, and of course no one was more positive in their career than Peter and he’s really helped me rediscover my belief.
‘He’s helped me rediscover the fact that I have been one of the best players of the last 20-odd years. I think I’d forgotten that, I think I’d gone into my shell a little bit. Peter’s helped me rediscover my self-belief.’
Asked if a lack of belief is why Murphy sought out the help of Ebdon, he said: ‘It wasn’t the reason, I just wanted to have somebody in my corner who’s been out there and had a fight too.
‘It’s not something I’ve had before. I’ve had lots of coaches and advisors, but at different times of your life you need different advice from different people. Just at the moment I wanted to have someone in my corner who’s been out there and had a tear-up themselves.’
He added on Eurosport: ‘In the dressing room pre-match, we weren’t even talking tactics, there was just some guitar riff in the music we were listening to.
‘To have somebody who has walked out there before, knows when it’s the right time to say nothing or the right time to say something.’
Ebdon was known for his intense, sometimes grinding, style of play in his pomp, which took him to nine ranking titles, including the World Championship, but Murphy feels he is misunderstood as a person.
‘I think we’re all guilty of judging people we watch on the TV and think we know them when we don’t,’ he said. ‘If you met Peter, you’ll know he’s one of the kindest, well-read, highly educated people you could meet.
‘If he was guilty of anything in his career he was guilty of giving 100 per cent every day. That doesn’t make him a bad bloke to me.’
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