If he hung up his cue having won the World Championship just once, there would be an almighty post-mortem into the snooker career of Judd Trump.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the sport’s history, the Bristolian has won everything in snooker – but has just one world title to his name, compared to the seven wins racked up by the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Stephen Hendry.
At the age of 35, Trump still has time on his side – snooker players can compete successfully into their 50s, as O’Sullivan, Mark Williams and co. have proved, but it would also be true to say that the sport doesn’t get any easier as you get older.
So time is very much of the essence for Trump… can he add a long overdue second world title to his collection in 2025?
World Domination
As far as the World Snooker Championship 2025 betting is concerned, Trump – as the current world number one – is amongst the favourites to lift the famous trophy.
Those odds for snooker have the Whitchurch potter as a 9/2 chance to win a second world crown, with the evergreen O’Sullivan the favourite at 10/3. The defending champion, Kyren Wilson, and the classy Mark Selby can’t be separated at 11/1.
Form and momentum heading into April’s showpiece event will be key, but often the seeds of success are sewn earlier in the season – which bodes well for Trump, given how quickly he has raced out of the blocks in 2024/25.
He won one of the few significant titles of the summer at the Shanghai Masters, trouncing both O’Sullivan (10-3) and Shaun Murphy (11-5) in the semi-finals and final respectively.
Trump then reached the final of the Xi’an Grand Prix, dropping just five frames on his route there before running into an inspired Wilson.
That set the scene for a new tournament on snooker’s World Tour: the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, which true to form offered one of the largest prize pools in the sport.
That certainly proved inspirational for Trump in yet another majestic early season showing…
500,000 Reasons Why
The 35-year-old was made to battle his way through the early rounds, overcoming fellow lefty (and best mate) Jack Lisowski in the second round and another lefty, Neil Robertson, in the third.
Another meeting with Murphy this time yielded a final frame decider, with Trump holding his nerve to clinch victory.
That set up a final with Williams, who was slow out of the blocks in the showpiece game, allowing Trump to open up a 5-3 after the first session.
The veteran Welshman rallied, to the point that the final also went all the way to a final frame shootout… with the lure of £500,000 to the winner no doubt helping to settle the players’ minds.
That vital frame would also go down to its business end and the colours. Trump managed to wrestle control of the table, potting pink and black to triumph.
The Bristolian was evidently emotional afterwards; whether that was due to the size of the cheque he had just won, or because he had prevailed in the maiden hosting of snooker’s so-called ‘fourth major’, only he can say.
Back on British soil, Trump will be hoping he can use this early season form as a benchmark for greater things to come in 2024/25.
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