Snooker labelled 'stupid' by world No.14 as tennis stars told they have it easier

has labelled snooker "stupid" and has told tennis stars they have life easier as they can move about more when they're playing. The world No. 14 reached the second round of the in April but was knocked out by , with eventually lifting the trophy.

Murphy first became a professional in the late 1990s and won the World Championship in 2005 when he defeated Matthew Stevens in the final. These days he splits his time between playing snooker and doing punditry work, and was involved in a inside the commentary box during this year's final at the Crucible after the Northern Irishman claimed some of his friends had never heard of Xintong.

Murphy gave his thoughts on the World Championship as he appeared on the . And he then turned his attention to how difficult the game of snooker can actually be.

"You don't have to go very far to be totally gone in snooker. You only have to just not quite be perfectly tuned in to be completely off," he explained.

"There was a great piece actually shown later in the Championship on the BBC from a guy who is a wellness coach and a mindfulness coach.

"And he was talking about how in snooker, when you do struggle... Obviously there are fine motor skills involved in being a snooker player with the touch and feel and those little touch shots and little traces of sidespin.

"You're not using your big muscles, you're using those fine motor muscles like the finger tips and stuff. It's very hard to retain that touch and feel when you're twitching all over the place, to put it mildly.

"If a tennis player or a golfer is feeling nervous, they can move the big muscles and they can hit the ball with force and they can get that pent up anxiety out a little bit.

"We can't really do that and you end up making a mistake and you overhit this little ball. You overhit it by an inch and it's all over.

"It's quite a hard game really when you think about it. It's a stupid game, snooker - a totally stupid game and it's also very difficult."

He then spoke about Mark Allen's maximum break at the Crucible as he added: "I tell you what, it was one of the best ones as well because he fell out of position two or three times from memory.

"Incredible cue ball control, which is exactly what you need to make a 147. I didn't know this at the time but he became the first player to make a 147 in all three triple crown events. What a record that is."