Four tournament wins, three ranking titles, 1 Masters and 1 World Championship. With a 100% final success rate in this season, Judd Trump reaches 11 ranking titles as well as achieving his best season yet. Let’s recap some of the highlights.
Displaying strong performances in the early beginnings of the season already, the first of Trump’s ranking titles came at the Northern Ireland Open 2018 against Ronnie O’Sullivan. Although it was one of their closer matches, Trump kept a strong foothold in order to get himself over the winning line.
Fast forward to the New Year, in January Trump displayed in my opinion his most dominant and convincing performance yet. Again, O’Sullivan was at the receiving end of Trump’s incredible first Masters win with a 10-4 hammering. This win included a 7-1 lead for the victor. Although O’Sullivan wasn’t playing well, Trump was playing far too well to be stopped at any point.
No more than 1 month later, Trump added the World Grand Prix to his list of wins this season, surviving an Ali Carter comeback. And then this past April/May, Trump claimed the top prize, with a considerable victory over one of snooker’s top match players, John Higgins.
The main takeaway from Trump’s season this year is not just how many titles he has won, or even the nature of the titles he has won; it’s the manner in which he won them. And also, how he has been performing in general all season. Previously, we have seen Trump playing tremendously well during a given season, but going into the big events with such high expectations set by everyone, he tended to fall short.
Now, I think we’re seeing a change in the tide. With multiple victories over O’Sullivan, Selby and Robertson this season alone (and then of course, Higgins); we could be seeing the start of a dominant few years over the horizon.
In my personal opinion, Trump had one of the top 3 matches of the season in his semi-final against O’Sullivan in the inaugural Tour Championship. And also, one of the best safety shots (alongside Gary Wilson’s) this season against Neil Robertson (if you know, you know).
But can Trump win the UK Championship later this year to claim all the Triple Crown titles within the same year? No one’s doubting him now.
