Shaun Murphy speaks after losing the World Snooker Championship final (Image: BBC)
Shaun Murphy‘s message to his fiancee Jo Rochell cracked up the Crucible crowd after he lost the World Snooker Championship final to Wu Yize. The gutted Magician was beaten in a final-frame decider to suffer a 18-17 defeat, as he was denied a second crown after his 2005 triumph. And the 43-year-old laughed at 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.
Murphy told the BBC: “[My coach] Peter [Ebdon] seems to think there’s more to come. Don’t feel like I’ve got much left right now! As for Jo, you know what she said to me as we came here, ‘If it goes wrong, we might sneak away for a couple of weeks. Can we just get away from it all?’ Of course it nearly did go wrong in the very first round. You can make an argument I shouldn’t be stood here at all. So I treated Jo to two weeks in Sheffield! Which I’ll probably pay for at some stage.”
Murphy was clearly devastated as his losing streak in World Championship finals stretched to four, having also been bested in 2009, 2015 and 2021.
The runner-up still showed his class as 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.
“I came out afterwards and said he will be a world champion one day, just a real shame it was today! But I couldn’t have given it in any more, I couldn’t have tried any harder. I played the best shots I could play where the balls finished. I didn’t get my chance. I can’t do any more than that.”
To round off the interview, BBC host Hazel Irvine said: “Shaun can I just say on behalf of everyone you have given us the most tremendous pleasure watching you go about your business here. You are a class act whether you win or lose. More power to you. Let’s see you back in this final one more time, giving it another go.”
Shaun Murphy gave a classy interview to the BBC after losing the final (Image: Getty)
Wu Yize’s triumph means China have had back-to-back Crucible champions (Image: Getty)
The Beeb then interviewed newly-crowned champion Wu Yize, who at 22 is now the second-youngest winner of all time. Only Stephen Hendry, who was 21 in 1990, was a younger Crucible king than the 2026 victor.
The Chinese potter reflected: “I have been trying to go for this, for ages. For the past few months, I have been living the same life. I am so happy that I could play well today.
“My parents are the true champions. Since I made the decision to drop out of school, my dad has been by my side. My mum has also been going through a lot over the years, they are the source of my strength, I love them so much.
“I just want to have a good sleep. I have been feeling nerves all the time since before the match, so now I just want to go to bed!” Wu was constantly supported by the Crucible crowd throughout the tournament, with the spectators’ chants of “Wuuuuu!” briefly causing some confusion for the youngster.
He admitted: “At the beginning I had a misunderstanding, I thought they were booing me! But then the staff told me they were cheering me on so I can’t thank you enough. Thank you for all your support, I think the love for snooker is mutual.”