Anthony McGill holds no fears of having to qualify to return to the Crucible, with a big plus being that he won’t have to play Shaun Murphy at the English Institute of Sport.
The Scot has been to the Crucible for the last eight years on the spin, but avoided the qualifiers for the last two as he was in the world’s top 16.
He goes into this event at number 21 in the rankings so has to win two matches to return to the famous venue, but is feeling good and sounding very confident in his game.
A Northern Ireland Open semi-final and a World Grand Prix quarter have been the highlights of the season so far, but McGill reckons if he didn’t keep drawing Shaun Murphy there would have been more deep runs.
The pair have played at the English Open, Grand Prix and Welsh Open, with the Magician winning all three in a superb season for him. Without the in-form Englishman to worry about, McGill is feeling fine.
‘I’m really enjoying playing, it’s just difficult to get results, everybody’s brilliant,’ he said. ‘I feel as though I’ve been playing better than what I’ve been getting, I’ve just got to keep plugging away.
‘I’m always confident, really confident in my game, I just can’t seem to get too deep into tournaments. I really don’t feel like there’s much to do, I think I’m playing pretty good.
‘I just keep getting beat by Shaun Murphy, he’s ruining it! It’s all this practice he’s getting against me that’s doing him a good turn.’
The EIS is a significantly different environment to the Crucible, but the former semi-finalist is not fussed and is pleased that the format is back to best-of-19.
‘It’s a snooker table, the surroundings don’t really matter, or you try and tell yourself that,’ he said. ‘It’s a game of snooker, you play your game and try your best.
‘It’s best of 19s, so you’re going to get less surprises. It’s like the Crucible, you don’t get surprise winners much, it’s always the big names that win it.’
Fellow Scot and Crucible semi-finalist Alan McManus has been full of praise for the 32-year-old ahead of his campaign in Sheffield, telling the Snooker Scene Podcast McGill has the ‘best technique on the tour’.
‘I believed eight or 10 years ago that this guy was going to win the World Championship at some stage and I still haven’t seen anything that’s going to change my mind,’ said McManus.
‘I think he’s got everything, this guy’s game is built for the Crucible. He’s beat guys like [Mark] Selby there, he’s beaten [Ronnie] O’Sullivan.
‘I’m going to go out on a limb here, I think he’s got the best technique on the tour. The way he hits the ball, how still his head is at impact. It’s just upstairs with Ants.’
McGill is trying to work on the upstairs department with former world champion Peter Ebdon, who has also been coaching the likes of Jack Lisowski and Elliot Slessor.
Asked how the work has been going, he said: ‘Yeah fine. Just discussing improvements, talking about the game, that kind of stuff.
‘Peter can’t teach anyone about technique, he was all over the place with his cue action. But he had the reputation of being strong upstairs, so that’s what we work on.’
McGill takes on John Astley in the third round of qualifying on Saturday, with the winner playing either Cao Yupeng or Ben Woollaston for a place at the Crucible.
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