Shaun Murphy remains in the dark over Kyren Wilson’s “baffling” comments about him as the pair prepare for clear-the-air talks. Murphy was left raging on the eve of the World Championship after Wilson labelled his conduct during January’s Masters final between the pair “unprofessional”.
After Murphy won 10-7, Wilson called his opponent an “old man” and said “he needed to win more than me” in an apparent attempt at humour in his post-match interview. Three months on, Wilson was asked about his bizarre choice of words by TNT Sports.
He said: “Shaun knows full well what happened before the evening session of the Masters final. I don’t want to bad mouth anyone, but what he did before the evening session was uncalled for and quite unprofessional.”
In response, Murphy insisted he had no idea what Wilson was referring to and said he was “extremely disappointed in him as a bloke”. Speaking on his onefourseven podcast on Friday, he said: “He had the nerve to call me unprofessional and call my reputation into question. How dare he do that, and then not even be man enough to then tell everyone what he’s talking about?
“When I see him face-to-face, I’ll be telling him, because that’s not how I operate. That’s not how real people operate.”
Wilson went on to suffer a shock first round defeat to Lei Peifan on Saturday. Meanwhile, Murphy completed a 10-4 victory over Daniel Wells on Wednesday.
After that win, Murphy said he and Wilson were planning to clear the air in person. He said via the Metro: “It’s still a baffling situation. Kyren and I have been texting each other a little bit and we’ve agreed to meet for a coffee to try and find a way forward on it.
“He still hasn’t told me what it is I’ve done to upset him. I have heard a few rumours through some other people on what it might be, but I’m still yet to hear it from the horse’s mouth.
“We were supposed to meet a few days ago, but obviously his plans changed. I think he is back now for a few days. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to meet and shake hands.”
Murphy produced one of the most impressive performances of the tournament so far as he defeated Crucible debutant Wells. The Magician could face world No.1 Judd Trump in a blockbuster second round tie. Trump resumes his first round match against Zhou Yuelong 6-3 up on Wednesday evening.
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