He may be only 22 years old but Judd Trump has already proved he’s one of the best players in the snooker world.
His nail-biting final match against Mark Allen, 25, on Sunday churned out some of the most impressive technical snooker seen among the younger generation of players.
Allen took the early lead in the game and by three frames to one had already won a big psychological victory by winning the first century break.
However, Trump fought back with a dosage of some of his own brand of ‘naughty’ snooker and his high-risk strategy paid off as he started the twelfth frame at 8-3 with breaks of 109, 78 and 74.
Allen won five of the next six frames but Trump returned to win the final in the final frame with a break of 91 and reaping the £100,000 prize money.
Judd’s style is reminiscent of O’Sullivan’s; he attempts a pot nearly at nearly every visit to the table and spends very little time on average setting himself up for his next.
Snooker commentators agree his reactive style of play makes him a joy to watch in a sport that many outsiders criticize as dull to newcomers.
Trump’s victory comes at a time where the sport is undergoing a revolution of sorts.
World Snooker’s Chairman Barry Hearn gave former world champ Stephen Henry a candid interview explaining his future plans to boost snooker’s revenue, sponsorships deals and motivation for other young players.
He plans to do this by capitalising on the recent surge of interest from China and tackling the monopoly that the top sixteen players have on the, admittedly small, available prize money.
One thing is for sure, with young players like Trump knocking the older world champs off their pedestals the game is certainly heading for new heights.
