Shaun Murphy partied until the early hours of the morning following his crushing World Snooker Championship final defeat to Wu Yize. The 2005 champion came agonisingly close to securing his second world title, eventually losing 18-17 in Monday’s nail-biting final at the Crucible Theatre.
The 43-year-old was clearly gutted in the aftermath of losing out to Wu, who became the second youngest world champion in snooker history. Yet, Murphy remained classy in his post-match interview despite falling short at the final hurdle for the fourth time in his career. And the runner-up didn’t let the heartbreak get in the way of letting off some serious steam at the tournament afterparty in Sheffield.
He spent the night mingling and dancing with a host of snooker stars, pundits, journalists and TV personal, before leaving the venue at some point after 4am. Wild clips and images show the two-time Masters winner wearing a suit jacket and enjoying himself on the dance floor.
One attendee wrote on X afterwards: “I’ve just left the party at gone 4am and Shaun Murphy is still there. Dancing, chatting, posing for selfies. That’s an amazing effort really isn’t it?”
Another X user wrote: “After the heartbreak of a narrow final defeat, you could forgive Shaun Murphy for moping off into the night. Instead he went to the after-party, smiled, danced and chatted the night away and I’m told he was one of the last ones standing.” Others agreed, commenting: “What a gent,” and: “Fair play to him.”
Referee Rob Spencer, who oversaw the final, was also in attendance, as was BBC sports announcer Rob Walker, who let loose following his Master of Ceremonies role with a knee slide.
Murphy had joked in his post-match interview about subjecting his fiancee to two weeks in Sheffield after she had hoped for a holiday if he left the tournament early, having failed to progress past round two in the previous four years.
Speaking on a more serious note, he added: “Very [proud]. It’s been an excellent couple of weeks for me and my team. It’s been a wonderful time here in Sheffield. We’ve had an amazing time. Some great performances. We’ve had a lot of laughs. Jeez we came close. We were very, very close.
“I would like to be the first to congratulate Wu and his family and everyone around him on being a wonderful world champion. Congratulations. I hate being right! I said some time earlier in the season, we had a great game out in China somewhere which I somehow managed to win.”