Reason why Shaun Murphy is ‘freezing’ after shots during World Championship final

Snooker fans will have noticed Shaun Murphy staying down on each shot for a considerable amount of time during the World Championship.

Murphy was among the leading contenders to lift the Crucible trophy for a second time, having done so as a qualifier back in 2005, and has reached the final.

He defeated reigning champion Zhao Xintong 13-10 in the quarter-finals, before coming back from 15-13 down to beat four-time winner John Higgins 17-15 in the semi-final.

Against Wu Yize in the final, Murphy was slow out of the blocks and went 3-0 down, but soon hit his stride to level the opening session at four frames apiece.

Chinese star Wu strode into a 10-7 overnight to wrestle back control heading into Monday's sessions, but had a tricky start in the afternoon as Murphy won five consecutive frames.

'The Magician' is playing in the showpiece event for a fourth occasion since defeating Matthew Stevens to win his maiden title in 2005, but has fallen short on every occasion since.

Murphy is never shy of experimenting with different snooker techniques, and he has adopted various new methods over recent months as he looks to get back the consistency of regularly reaching the latter stages of tournaments that has often eluded him.

One of those methods has divided viewers, with Murphy staying down on his shot at the table even after the object ball has safely nestled into the pocket.

The technique naturally adds time on to each shot, with fans questioning whether there is any genuine advantage to the 13-time ranking event winner doing it.

One viewer described Murphy on social media as 'freezing like a statue'.

Over the past two years, Murphy has been working closely with Peter Ebdon, who won the World Championship in 2002 and reached the final in 1996 and 2006.

Murphy is now working with 2002 world champion Peter Ebdon (Image: Getty)

Ebdon was known for his methodical style of play, and had one of the slowest average shot times ever recorded on the snooker table.

During his 2005 World Championship quarter-final, the Englishman averaged 37 seconds per shot in a 13-10 win over Ronnie O'Sullivan, who got increasingly more irritated in his chair as the match wore on.

At one stage, Ebdon took five minutes to make a break of 12 - only marginally faster than the time it took O'Sullivan to record the fastest-ever 147 break in 1997.

Though his style of play was controversial, however, nothing he did was ever against the rules of snooker, and he once stated: "When I'm trying my hardest, I seem to go slow. I don't do it intentionally."

It has been previously mentioned on commentary that Murphy staying down on his shot is in part influenced by the work of Ebdon, who has also mentored a number of other top snooker stars.

But it will also no doubt be down to head position, given that keeping a still head when playing each shot is a vital skill for any snooker player.

Murphy's new break-off tactic

'The Magician' has trialled a new break-off shot during recent months, where he strikes the third red in an attempt to open up the table and give him more potting opportunities.

Zhao specifically stated after his quarter-final defeat that he struggled to adapt to the more aggressive technique, with Murphy telling BBC Sport at the beginning of the tournament: "We [Murphy and Ebdon] both just were in the snooker room at the house a few weeks ago, before the Tour Championships.

"And I just said: 'I'm convinced there's a better shot than the one we've been playing for 100 years'. It's 100 years of professional snooker this year, and the break-off hasn't changed.

"Now, I'm not sure if my shot is better, and it's certainly not new. Steve Davis was doing that throughout the 80s.

"It's a bit embarrassing when you get it wrong, and you go in off or hit the blue, or whatever. But since I've been doing it, I've lost one frame from the break-off, so that's a massive improvement."

As well as Davis' aforementioned break-off method, he also had another technique where he would occasionally strike the cue ball off two cushions before hitting the bottom of the pack of reds.

Mark Williams went a step further by playing a four-cushion break-off during a match against Mark Selby, though the shot barely disturbed the reds.

Murphy and Wu play to a finish at the Crucible on Monday evening, with a maximum of 10 frames set to be played.