Shaun Murphy's Biography

He won the snooker world championships on May 2, 2005, narrowly beating Matthew Stevens in the final.

After his historic victory he praised his parents: "My dad used to take me everywhere and coach me after school - he and my mum were paying for it all, so without them I wouldn't be here. I owe them everything."

Murphy put up a good performance in 2006 but was not able to retain the world title. He was despatched in the quarter finals by Peter Ebdon 13-7.

In 2007, Shaun Murphy went one better in the World Championships, getting to the semi-finals, where Mark Selby beat him 17-16 in a nail-biting contest.

Murphy became a professional snooker player in June 1997, when he was just 14. He won more through his world championship victory at the Crucible than all his previous prize money put together - £135,195 before the start of the 2004/5 season.

Shaun Murphy spent most of early snooker days at the Rushden Snooker Centre in Northampton.

Before becoming the 2005 world snooker champion, Shaun Murphy was ranked 43rd in the world, having started the season at 48th.

Shaun Murphy lives in Rotherham.

He was married to Clare, whom he met via a Christian chatroom on the internet, however by 2009, they were separated and Shaun Murphy was worried that Clare might serve him with divorce papers during play at the world championship.

Murphy is a devout Christian who prays in his dressing room.

In February 2007, Shaun Murphy beat Ryan Day 9-4 in the final of the Malta Cup to win his second ranking title and to elevate him to fifth in the provisional world ranking list.

Shaun Murphy continued his outstanding form in the Welsh Open. In the course of his second round whitewash of Jamie Cope, Shaun Murphy became only the second player to make four consecutive century breaks in a major snooker event.

However Shaun Murphy's run came to an end with a defeat to his great rival, Stephen Maguire, who, according to the BBC said: "We've always had a rivalry. I dislike him and I think he dislikes me."

In February 2008, Shaun Murphy beat Ken Doherty to retain his Malta Cup crown.

On 21 December 2008, Shaun Murphy beat Marco Fu 10-9 to take the UK Championship.

In 2009, Shaun Murphy beat Neil Robertson 17-14 to face John Higgins in the World Championship final.

However, he lost the final to John Higgins 18-9.

In February 2014, Murphy beat Fergal O'Brien 4-1 in the final of the Gdynia Open in Poland. It was the first event that he had won in 29 months.

In 2021, Murphy reached the final of the World Championships but was beaten by Mark Selby.

In February 2023, Shaun Murphy defeated Ali Carter 10-4 to win the Players Championship.

On 2 April, 2023, Shaun Murphy beat Kyren Wilson in the Tour Championship to win his second ranking title of the season.