Shaun Murphy has explained how his new break-off shot came about just weeks before the World Snooker Championship. The former winner is into the semi-finals at level at 4-4 with John Higgins after the first session.
Murphy, 43, became world champion in 2005, but 21 years on, has changed how he starts matches for the first time. It has also coincided with his best run at the Crucible since last reaching the final in 2021, beating Fan Zhengyi, Xiao Guodong and last year’s champion, Zhao Xintong.
Murphy is striking the third row of reds rather than the edge of the bottom two when breaking. This approach separates the balls more than is standard and has paid off so far.
The technique came about during a practice session with his coach coach Peter Ebdon. Murphy recalled: “We both just were in the snooker room at the house a few weeks ago, before the Tour Championships, and we said ‘let’s go and do a few hours practice’.
“And I just said as we went in: ‘I’m convinced there’s a better shot than the one we’ve been playing for 100 years.’ It’s 100 years of professional snooker this year, and the break-off hasn’t changed.
“You always leave either the standard shot to nothing or a long red, or you drag one up over the middle, one of those three things usually happens.
“I just said to Peter: ‘I’m convinced that there’s a better shot in there.’ Now, I’m not sure if my shot is better, and it’s certainly not new. Steve Davis was doing that throughout the 80s. The most famous frame of all, the ’85 last frame, that’s how he broke off, so I haven’t created anything new.
“It’s a bit embarrassing when you get it wrong, and you go in off, or hit the blue, or whatever, but since I’ve been doing it, I’ve lost one frame from the break off, so that’s a massive improvement.”
Murphy and Higgins play the second session of their semi-final at 7pm on Friday, 1 May. A third follows from 2:30pm on Saturday, and one of them will make it through to the final, which starts on Sunday before concluding on Monday.