Could Judd Trump Be Snooker’s Saviour?

Judd Trump’s relaxed, attacking style as well as his youth and stupendous potting skills is ‘exactly what the sport needs’ according to Snooker’s promoter, Barry Hearn.  Things have not looked great for snooker in recent months with John Higgins acquitted from match fixing allegations by the ‘News of the World’ and in January, the highly prestigious Masters event produced a final of Ding Junhui playing Marco Fu.  Things were getting worse for snooker as fan favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan pulled out of the Berlin masters at the last-minute.  Barry Hearn told the press that ”If I had to write down a description of what I need, I’d write down a description of Judd Trump”. 

Judd Trump after his defeat to John Higgins

Barry Hearn is not the only snooker legend to be singing Trump’s praises.  Former World Championship winner Dennis Taylor described Trump as ”Without a doubt the greatest potter I have ever seen”. Yet Judd Trump is not the first person to be labelled as ”The saviour of snooker”.  It was speculated that Chinese player Ding Junhui could help to revitalise the sport for a long time since he turned professional in 2003.  Jamie Cope was also hailed as a potential saviour for the sport after his aggressive and exciting play around the table, ultimately leading o him being named ‘Shotgun’.  Although both have broken into the top 20 snooker rankings, at 4 and 15 respectively, neither has been able to excite a crowd in the manner that Judd Trump did at the Crucible theatre in Sheffield in his final match against John Higgins.

Click on the picture to see some of the best shots from Trump at the World Championship

Judd Trump told the sport’s website that he wasn’t ”too downbeat” after losing to John Higgins and has vowed to return and win the World Championship in the future.  John Higgins has said that there is a good chance of Trump being victorious at the Crucible in the future.  Stephen Hendry   Trump as ”the new Jimmy White” because of his fearless play around the table.  Hendry has won more crucible titles than anybody else and contemplated retiring from snooker recently before deciding to carry on and try to replicate his performances when he was Trump’s age.  But in the present, snooker is in need of a player who can draw in crowds and entertain; Judd Trump appears to be exactly what snooker is looking for.