Shaun Murphy may not have won a title in the month of August, but he’s been the standout performer without any question.
The world number five has made it to back-to-back finals in recent weeks and, rather than dwell on an inability to go all the way and clinch silverware, the signs all point towards the fact that’s he’s very close to returning to winning ways.
He has been consistency personified and in the process has accumulated a stack of impressive wins at The China Championship and The Paul Hunter Classic which set him up for what should be a mightily impressive season.
It’s true Murphy has plenty of critics, but it’s difficult to deny he’s been one of the great ambassadors for the game over the past decade. He has always been prepared to travel to a hefty number of tournaments each season and support new and upcoming events as they’ve been added to the calendar. It’s easy for top players to turn their noses at the less-established competitions on the calendar, but Murphy has always been one to look at the bigger picture and act within the best interests of the growth of the sport.
His attitude has always been first class and, despite more than 10 years competing at the very top level, his determination to produce the goods on the table is still very much alive and kicking.
It speaks volumes about Shaun that despite having won seven ranking events and being part of an elite group of players to have won the sport’s Triple Crown, there’s a strong feeling that he may have underachieved slightly.
When he debuted at The Crucible as a teenager in 2002, he ran into Stephen Hendry in the first round and comparisons were immediately being drawn with many people tipping Murphy to become the seven-time winner’s natural successor.
Three years later, Shaun won the World Championship as a plucky amateur and many believed it would be the first in a string of Crucible triumphs for the young Englishman. In fact, it was his first and so far his last.
Murphy has had an outstanding career. He has established himself as a mainstay in the world’s elite top 16 and won enough titles to ensure his name will always be remembered, but it’s also interesting to point out that he’s suffered defeat in the semi-finals of major ranking events on 18 separate occasions. While this statistic obviously points towards an exceptional level of consistency and a first-class record of progressing to the latter rounds of big tournaments, it also shows that he has lacked a killer instinct to land silverware at certain points of his career.
Shaun has spoken openly in the past about finding new ways to turn his good form into more titles – and here he is again this season demonstrating excellent levels of consistency without going all the way.
Aged 35, Murphy has absolutely nothing to prove to anyone. But maybe, just maybe, there’s a little nagging feeling inside him that he wants to maximise his final years and see how far he can move up the game’s all-time record lists with a few more titles.
So far this season, he’s showed he’s very much up for the fight and it looks as though he’ll be competing for all the big titles.
