Judd Trump has admitted he no longer feels like the world number one and would have no complaints if someone surpassed him by the end of the World Championship. His position at the top of the rankings is under threat after a second-round defeat at the Crucible, where he was ousted 13-12 by Iran's Hossein Vafaei.
It would take a Neil Robertson World Championship win for Trump to be dislodged from the number one spot, but even if that does not happen, he is likely to slip in the near future. Trump won the Saudi Arabia Masters in September 2024, and with that event now cancelled, he will have no chance to defend the £500,000 prize money, which will come off his rankings.
Trump is comfortable with the situation, recognising that his one title this season at the German Masters is not resounding world number one material. In fact, he says he would welcome the added motivation of trying to regain top spot if someone took it from him.
Trump's Admission on His Form
‘It doesn’t really bother me,’ he said. ‘I think with the world number one thing, I don’t feel like I’ve played good enough to hold it. I’m still number one at the moment, but I think maybe I need someone to overtake me, to give myself a bit of a kick up the backside to produce the goods again. It’s something that I love being. I’m disappointed when we lose any tournament, but yeah, hopefully we can replace it with a few others.’
Trump had a chance in the decider to beat Vafaei on Monday night and feels his inability to take it was not befitting of a world number one. ‘I’ve been consistent, but not good enough. I think the world number one, you want to be clearing up in that kind of position,’ he said. ‘I fought hard because I was struggling tonight and then I turned it around to go 11-all, 12-11, and didn’t really do a lot wrong at 12-11. But you’ve got to clear up in that kind of position. That’s what you’ve got to do to be world champion, world number one, and that’s just disappointing.’
Tournament Favourites
Considering who would go on to win the tournament after his departure, Trump thought about defending champion Zhao Xintong but ended up backing his quarter-final opponent, Shaun Murphy. ‘You probably have to put Xintong, I think, as favourite, but I think that it’s wide open. No one has really played particularly great,’ he said. ‘I think Shaun Murphy will have a big say as well, actually, to be honest. I think Shaun is favourite, Xintong is second favourite.’
Robertson has a long way to go to usurping Trump at the top of the rankings, starting with a quarter-final against John Higgins, which begins on Tuesday afternoon. Zhao needed Trump to lose in the first round to have the chance of overtaking him at the top of the rankings next month, so that is no longer a possibility. However, if Zhao manages to defend his world title, he will go very close to the top of the world rankings for the first time, and a rise to number one would be almost inevitable early next season.
