Murphy determined to be crowned Crucible King

Murphy was crowned champion in 2005, beating Matthew Stevens 18-16 at the Crucible Theatre after entering the tournament as a complete outsider.

Living in Rotherham at the time, Murphy had the home support of the South Yorkshire crowd behind him in Sheffield, and the 28-year-old believes this year’s finals could bring another shock winner.

Murphy – who also reached the final in 2009 before losing out to John Higgins – opens his campaign tomorrow against Scotland’s Marcus Campbell.

“The days when all of the seeds were expected to win their first round matches are gone,” said Murphy, who is now based in Sale.

“All of the qualifiers are very good players. Marcus won a PTC tournament this season and I know it will be a very tough game.

“I’ve had doubts about my game during the season, but I’ve kept the faith and come good at the right time,” said the World No 6.

“I actually don’t think that form is that important going into the World Championship – you’ve just got to get past your first match then play your way into it.

“The winner will be the player who copes best with all the twists and turns you go through over 17 days.”

After tasting success at the Crucible before, and having won the PartyCasino.com Players Tour Championship Grand Finals and reaching the semi-finals of the Bank of Beijing China Open this season, Murphy insists anything else than lifting the famous trophy on May 2 will be a disappointment.

“It’s great getting to the semis or the final at Sheffield,” he said. “But at this stage of my career, having won it before and held a few other titles, I’m only in it to win it. Anything else would be a disappointment.

“I love the event and every time it finishes I feel as if I can’t wait until next year, so I’m determined to have a good run in it this time,” he said.

Judd Trump is determined his ‘second debut’ will be one for the memory bank after admitting he has all but forgotten his first visit to the World Championship.

Trump became the third youngest player to reach the Crucible, after Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan, when he played Murphy as a 17-year-old in 2007, and until this year he had not earned the right to return.

Tomorrow he takes on Neil Robertson, the reigning champion, in the first round in Sheffield, believing he could cause an upset.

After years of being tipped as a future tournament winner, the 21-year-old won the China Open this month, knocking out former world champions Peter Ebdon and Murphy before overcoming Mark Selby to land his first ranking title.

“I can’t really remember anything about the day I played Murphy. I was still young then. It was a different kind of game then,” Trump said.

“I don’t think the pressure really hit me that day, I was too young, but after the next couple of years the pressure started to build and build when I wasn’t producing.

“It will feel like I’m making my debut again. I’ve completely forgotten what it feels like to play there, so it will be intimidating at first I’d think. To know that I’ll be playing Neil and he’ll be under a little bit of pressure as well, I’ve just got to go out and enjoy it.”