Shaun Murphy has opened up on his relationship with his estranged father, Tony, as the World Snooker Championship creeps closer.
The 2005 champion is currently preparing for the showpiece event as he looks to win the prestigious prize for the second time following his first triumph 20 years ago.
Murphy will go into the tournament on a high after winning the Masters back in January, where he defeated Kyren Wilson.
However, if he's able to secure glory at the Crucible, then his father Tony won't be in attendance.
Shaun Murphy has opened up on his relationship with his estranged father, Tony, as the World Snooker Championship creeps closer
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Murphy, speaking to The Sun, admits the pair haven't spoken in a 'long time' - with the snooker star devastated at how their relationship has panned out.
“It’s very, very disappointing and very upsetting how that has worked itself out," he said.
“As a father now myself, I see the breakdown over that relationship through totally different lenses and from a different perspective than I ever did.
“We haven’t spoken properly for a long, long time.
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“I always thought that as the son, when I chose and wanted to go back through the door of reconciliation with my father, that that door would be open to me.
“I always assumed as the son that opportunity would be there.
“It turns out I was wrong. It takes two to tango. You know, I have offered him an olive branch several times. Including very recently.
“And somehow he has managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
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Snooker star Shaun Murphy says he 'doesn't know' his father at all amid their estrangement
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“You’d think that that man that raised me and I grew up with… well, actually I don’t know him at all."
Tony played a big role in the early years of Murphy's snooker career.
However, his relationship with his son changed when he split from Murphy's mother while the snooker star was still a teenager.
Murphy has two children of his own.
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And he finds it sad that Tony doesn't have a relationship with himself, as well as his brothers and sisters.
“He’s not the man I thought he was," he continued.
"I wish no malice at all. I wish him no ill whatsoever.
"But he doesn’t have a relationship with me. Nor my brother and sister, their families, their children...
Snooker star Shaun Murphy will be hoping to summon the magic that made him a world champion back in 2005PA“He has met my son once when he was one year old. He has never met my daughter and it doesn’t look like he will.
“He’s the only one who’s missed out in that situation. I feel for him. I wish it was different but it’s not.”
