'I'm sick of being fat-shamed on social media' - Shaun Murphy reveals he had surgery to remove 80% of stomach
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Updated 18/08/2022 at 09:51 GMT
Former snooker world champion Shaun Murphy has revealed he has had gastric sleeve surgery to remove 80% of his stomach after being fat-shamed on social media, plus a difficult season last year. Murphy went beyond the quarter-finals stage just once last season and risks dropping out of the top 16 if he doesn’t find form this season. He is currently playing at the European Masters in Germany.
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Shaun Murphy has revealed he has undergone gastric sleeve surgery in a bid to rejuvenate his career as well as the criticism he received on social media.
Having made the World Championship final in 2021, where he was beaten by Mark Selby, Murphy had one of the most difficult seasons of his career.
He was knocked out in the early stages of most ranking tournaments including a first-round loss to amateur player Si Jiahui at the UK Championship, where Murphy claimed “it was not fair” to face players of that calibre. A day later, he apologised for his comments but the second half of his season seeing little improvement.
“The surgery is irreversible, so it was a huge decision,” Murphy told sportsmail. “I get that as a high-profile sportsman you expect stick on social media, but the personal attacks are really cruel.
“I've had 80% of my stomach removed so now I can eat very little. It's pretty much impossible for me to ever put weight back on again.
“I used to go to Weight Watchers and really enjoyed it and I've lost weight throughout my career — it's yo-yoed when I've dieted and got into exercise.
“I've had a lot of things going on in my life which contributed to the worst season of my career last season. It's been incredibly tough and one thing I've always struggled with is my weight.”
Murphy also explained personal problems away from the baize have also hampered him in the last 12 months.
The 40-year-old says he’s “by no means the finished article” and wants to “enjoy his snooker and feel good about himself”.
“I accepted that I was unable to sort my weight out. I had surgery in May and so far I've lost about four stone,” added Murphy.
“My weight has always fluctuated, but it comes down to discipline and I needed to do something about it to give me the best possible chance of being successful in the final third of my career.
“This last year has been one of the toughest, if not the toughest, of my life. Me and my wife Elaine separated, which has been hard because we have two children. I started eating a lot more. Like alcohol, it's an addiction but it is not spoken about as much.
“Me and Elaine are tentatively trying for a reconciliation, but the breakdown of our marriage and my weight and injury problems obviously made playing snooker really tough. It was secondary to everything else.
“But I decided to do something about it because I'm sick of being fat-shamed on social media and not feeling good about myself.”
How O’Sullivan and other players inspired Murphy
Several of snooker’s top players have opened up about fitness regimes and exercise which indirectly benefit them on the table.
Ronnie O’Sullivan has done long distance running for a decade and John Higgins recently decided to take on cycling
Murphy has taken inspiration from the pair, plus other players and hopes to follow a similar path.
“I was listening to Steve Davis in the commentary box at this year's World Championship and something struck a chord with me,” Murphy explained.
“He wasn't aiming his comment at me, but he said it was no secret that the fitter players, those that had looked after themselves, were dominating.
“You only have to look at Ronnie O'Sullivan. He is the player who has looked after himself the most and he's just won a seventh world title at 46. He's getting better with age.
“A lot of the other tournament winners like Neil Robertson and Judd Trump are fit. John Higgins has lost weight by spinning and I know a lot of professionals have Peloton bikes so they can stay fit.”
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