Kyren Wilson and Shaun Murphy in bitter row over Masters incident ahead of World Championship
Reigning champion Kyren Wilson has ignited a bitter row with Shaun Murphy on the eve of the World Snooker Championship over an incident that happened during the Masters final earlier this year.
Back in January, Murphy beat Wilson 10-7 to claim his second Masters title and the latter raised eyebrows with a slightly salty post-defeat interview where he said: “No disrespect to Shaun but he’s turned into an old man now, so he needs this more than me. I’m 33 years old, coming into my prime.”
He has now revealed that the genesis of those comments was an incident that occurred between the two sessions of the final, where he feels Murphy did something “uncalled for and quite unprofessional.”
He refused to go into detail about the specific nature of the incident that allegedly took place in the practice room at Alexandra Palace but chose the hours before the start of his World Championship title defence at the Crucible to re-litigate the issue.
“Shaun knows. Shaun knows what he did,” insisted Wilson. “I don’t want to bad mouth him because I don’t want to take any shine away from his win and it’s nothing to do with performance-wise, because he was absolutely fantastic during the Masters.
“It’s almost like snooker player preferences, we all know the do’s and don’ts. There was a bit of a don’t in the evening session just before the final.
“There was nothing going on during the game, no off-putting or anything like that. Just to make that clear. It’s in the practice room.
“Shaun knew. We had a chat about it. Me and [Wilson’s brother] Taylor pulled him and [Murphy’s coach] Peter [Ebdon] up on it.
“I’m very good friends with Peter and good friends with Shaun. So I was disappointed how that happened, but at the end of the day, no bad blood whatsoever against Shaun. I’m on tour too much nowadays to have any bad blood with anyone.
“Taking nothing away from his win. But I disagreed with something he did before the evening session. He knows what he did, we spoke about it.
“Nipped it in the bud there. Straight away. I think we were in the World Open out in China, sat and had a coffee with him in Starbucks like everything was normal.”
However, Murphy hit back hard, pleading complete ignorance about the incident Wilson was referring to and taking umbrage with the public nature of his rival’s comments.
He also denies having had a clear-the-air conversation with the world champion and seemed particularly put-out by his use of the word “unprofessional.”
“I’m totally baffled by it,” insisted Murphy. “I have got absolutely no idea. I am disappointed that he has chosen that now is the time to bring it up, whatever it is. He has had months to say something to me if he wanted to.
“I think it is really poor form on him to say it the way he said it. To leave everybody hanging. If you are going to have the bottle to pull somebody over something, at least call me about it.
“He could have said it to my face. He could have been a proper bloke and actually addressed me himself. He has chosen not to do that. I have no idea what the beef is or what the problem is.
“I was sore when I saw that comment [about being unprofessional] because my professionalism is something I pride myself on and have done for many years.
“I am left scratching my head as to what he could possibly be referring to. I have no idea. I wish he had just accused me of something outright because at least I could defend myself. I have no idea.
“Whatever it is that is upsetting so much, it can’t be that bad because he shook my hand last night. I have no idea what is wrong with him. I don’t know. If you are going to call someone out, don’t go half baked and leave everybody, including me hanging. I have no idea.”
Both men grew up in the Northamptonshire area and although Murphy is almost a decade older, he posited that Wilson may simply be jealous of his snooker success coming earlier.
“We have known each other a long time,” explained Murphy. “There has always been a bit of rivalry between Kettering and Irthlingborough if that can be a thing – small county rivalries.
“He has always had a bit of a chip on his shoulder about the fact that I was first and was ahead of him. Maybe that is what we are seeing. Maybe it is the good, old-fashioned green-eyed monster.”
As defending champion, Wilson starts his 2025 World Championship campaign in the opening session on Saturday morning, against debutant Lei Peifan, before finishing the match that evening, while Murphy’s first-round clash with another debutant – Daniel Wells – takes place over Tuesday and Wednesday.
