IS JUDD AN ALL-TIME GREAT ALREADY?

In our last text, where I predicted what to expect from the players this season, I mentioned there was not a lot to say about world number one Judd Trump. That is because you can't say he's under pressure once he won a record six ranking titles last season, but you can't say he's under no pressure either because he had poor results in triple crown tournaments.

It would be foolish to say Judd Trump is still an overrated player because I think that to determine if a player is overrated you must compare what people expect from him and what he's actually accomplishing. Judd was indeed once overrated, but now he's a 31 years-old who's completed the triple crown and stands at the top of the world ranking. I expect him to be winning big titles for the next 10 to 15 years but right now he's already done it all and makes justice for the expectations.

Although I mentioned last week that Judd's poor performances in the triple crown events made me remind of the 7 years between his first and second wins, I don't think his fans should be worried about that happening again. He's much more experienced now and improved every department of his game, plus he have a winning mentality that will keep him at the top. Even though we shouldn't be worried about him, we should be patient and let him make himself one of the greatests before we asume he is one.

Judd had one of the best Crucible runs ever and played arguably the best match anyone has ever played in the 2019 final against John Higgins. As he kept that form into 2019/20, people got hyped about him. Highlight to World Snooker Tour chairman Barry Hearn saying Judd Trump is the sixth best player of all time, putting him ahead of Mark Selby. Fair play to Judd if he goes on to achieve enough in the game to put him amongst greats like Selby, but for now we should respect the players that have been there and already proved they're all-time greats by delivering time and time again.

To compare Selby's career to Trump's right now would be laughable. Three world titles to one, three masters titles to one and two UK titles to one, plus Selby spent six years running as world number one and winning triple crown events in a regular basis. For sure Judd Trump could surpass everyone in the game if he lives up to his 2019 Crucible performance, but he's failed to repeat his 2018/19 success in 2019/20 and despite his record six ranking wins, the Triple Crown tournaments are where history is written and he was very disappointing in those. We're all sure he'll continue to be a threat in any tournament and will win more Triple Crown titles, but let's just see how he writes his story himself.

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