Shaun Murphy makes Judd Trump comparison as he opens up on 10 year quest to recapture 'magical feeling' at Masters

Shaun Murphy says he's been trying to play "magical snooker" for a decade without success.

But the Magician hopes that will change at the Masters this year, as he attempts to win a first major title in 10 years with success at Alexandra Palace. And his chances have already been given a boost, after Ronnie O'Sullivan's shock withdrawal just 48 hours before he was due to face John Higgins in the opening game.

Snooker star Murphy revealed that he has been working for a decade to recapture the "magical feeling" he had during a dominant spell a decade ago, and is determined to get that back as he faces Gary Wilson in the first round on January 12. He told SportsBoom: "I wish anniversaries were written in the stars, but sadly I don’t think it works like that. When I started attending the Masters as a child and went to the Wembley Conference Centre to watch it the Triple Crown wasn’t a thing. It has since then become a big deal. To complete it at the Masters, which is somewhere I went every year to watch, was special. I’ll always remember that very fondly.

“It was the win that completed my Triple Crown set so that was extra pressure on it from that point of view. I very nearly lost my first match to Mark Selby having led 5-1. I scrambled over the line at the end, but from then I never looked back. I played some magical snooker really throughout the week and if I’m honest I’ve been trying to recapture that for ten years.”

This year will mark the ten-year anniversary of Murphy completing the Triple Crown with a 10-2 thrashing of Neil Robertson to lift the famous Masters trophy. The 42-year-old is still ranked in the world’s top eight but has failed to add to his major tally in the past decade, losing the 2015 and 2021 World