Masters 2025: Judd Trump is playing in wrong decade to earn proper appreciation beyond snooker's Britpop era
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Published 16/01/2025 at 07:40 GMT
Judd Trump began his quest for a third Masters title and universal appreciation with a 6-1 win over Barry Hawkins in the first round at Alexandra Palace in London. Trump secured a quarter-final with Ding Junhui on Friday afternoon, boosted by a century and three 50+ breaks. It came after the world No. 1 said his title-winning achievements were not appreciated in the modern era, but is he correct?
'Snooker's serial winner' Trump makes century to wrap up exceptional victory over Hawkins
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This year marks the 40th anniversary of the most celebrated match in the modern history of professional snooker.
An astonishing terrestrial TV audience of 18.5m on BBC2 watched Dennis Taylor recover from 8-0 down to defeat Steve Davis 18-17 on the final black of the 1985 World Championship final in Sheffield.
"The final frame, the final black," fabled match commentator Ted Lowe famously whispered as both men battled to sink the deciding ball before a record TV audience for the Beeb’s second channel.
The 'black ball' final has slipped into folklore after the jovial bloke with the upside-down specs from Northern Ireland – with a wagging finger who lifted a cue above his head like a weightlifter lunging for gold – unseated the technically dominant force that was Davis, slap bang in the middle of a decade when he claimed his six world titles.
For snooker, it was perhaps the best of times and the worst of times. The epic finish to that final tends to overshadow the overall quality of it.
History sees it recalled and romanticised as an elongated ancient battle when, in reality, it would probably help get the game shut down in this weather, such was its dank nature.
The 35 frames took 14 hours and 50 minutes to complete, the longest duration for any final hosted by the Crucible Theatre since 1977, with the final ball sunk by Taylor in a gruesome but equally engrossing 68-minute final frame at 12:23am on a Monday morning in April, the third day of the match.
"It will be nice to watch all the old stuff, but it will remind us that a lot of it wasn’t that good," said Davis during the Covid lockdown. "There was no century break in the 1985 final, and the standard of play these days has gone through the roof."
Who would stick with the 1985 final these days amid countless alternatives? Probably only the purist who still enjoys a sporting slow burn and the rare sight of Davis blowing a match he would usually win on misses.
Yet the 1980s remain snooker's Britpop era, or perhaps Britpot, as a unique cultural phenomenon.
Davis and Taylor commanded a level of recognition, popular support, public following and widespread affection that modern professionals can only dream of.
Compare 1985 with undisputed world No. 1 Judd Trump's 18-9 victory over John Higgins in the breathtaking 2019 world final that saw him produce seven sparkling centuries out of a record 11 in becoming the first player to earn £500,000 for claiming the sport's biggest prize.
But also contrast 1985 with the 2022 world final in changing times that saw a very healthy 4.5m, more than Coronation Street on the same night, watch the snooker GOAT Ronnie O'Sullivan equal Stephen Hendry's record of seven Crucible crowns with an 18-13 win over Trump in an occasion oozing quality.
The increasingly bright future prospects of snooker probably lies outwith the UK, in Asia, mainland Europe and the Middle East, as much as within it, boosted by Eurosport's exceptional and ongoing commitment to covering most of the tournaments Trump wins.
The two-time Masters winner has even relocated to Hong Kong due to the changing priorities of the sport going global.
Universal recognition for snooker players in this country harks back to the days of iconic world champions like Ray Reardon and Terry Griffiths, two genuine pioneers of the old green baize who sadly passed away in 2024.
But Trump has taken the sport on, rampaging to 30 ranking titles since 2005, making the second most centuries of all time with 1028 and counting, and leading the world rankings by almost 650,000 points.
He entered the 51st Masters involving the world's top 16 as title favourite, but continues to feel his achievements are not appreciated by the wider public.
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Watch the best of Trump in 2024
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"I think now more than ever I am," commented Trump before piecing together a ton and three 50+ breaks in a 6-1 win over Barry Hawkins in the first round on Tuesday.
"For my age, I’ve won a lot of events and achieved a lot of things in snooker. Winning six ranking titles in a season gets forgotten about a little bit. I think it’s an extremely tough record to break.
"The amount of times I’ve managed to win four, five or six events in a season consistently. I’m proud of myself for what I’ve achieved.
"I don’t need other people to tell me how great it is, but it would be nice for people to recognise it.
"It seems to be the same in every sport, you’re not appreciated or people don’t appreciate what you’ve achieved until the end of your career."
Sportsmen or women rarely get validation, recognition or appreciation upon demand. It is sometimes even just a quirk of fate when they do.
Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins and Jimmy 'Whirlwind' White were never as consistent as Trump with a cue in hand, but they performed in a period in time when snooker players were venerated as green baize gods.
Without being harsh, it is fair comment to suggest Trump or his contemporaries will never command such recognition in the UK.
Not because of his burgeoning ability or outstanding application to rack up the ranking events, but because time has moved on in the ensuing 40 years since Taylor outlasted Davis.
Snooker was all the rage in the 1980s and was very much a UK and a family affair when there were only three, then four terrestrial TV channels.
Back then, Davis was on an equal footing with sporting figures such as Bryan Robson, Nigel Mansell, Nick Faldo, Frank Bruno and Ian Botham.
O'Sullivan is the only player from today's game who can rival Davis, White, Higgins or even Taylor as individuals who would transcend snooker.
His legend has been built on his 10-6 win over Hendry at the 1993 UK Championship final in Preston, when he burst onto the scene like darts world champion Luke Littler at the age of 17.
Whether it is right or wrong, O'Sullivan gained immediate traction with the masses due to his brilliance and background because the public like their snooker heroes, like Higgins and White, to be flawed, unpredictable geniuses.
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‘What have you had for breakfast?’ - White dazzles with potting exhibition
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Trump is certainly the most consistent tournament winner since Davis or Hendry, but they belonged to a different era long before the explosion of new media, YouTubers, countless streaming options and social media.
While carting off trophies is no mean feat in such a competitive era, there also needs to be an appreciation of the rapid increase in ranking events which has enabled Trump to flourish in terms of titles and enhanced earning potential.
When Davis was dominating the sport's Britpot days, there were never more than 10 ranking events, with non-ranking and invitational tournaments providing the backbone of the sport's formative years on TV.
Modern life sees people on the run digesting sport in all sorts of wonderful and weird ways on mobile phones and laptops, with the box only part of a way to achieve a signal.
A younger Trump even engaged with the bravado of projecting a 'bad boy persona' at the 2012 Masters when he had an ill-advised public quarrel with Neil Robertson after a 6-3 defeat in a thorny semi-final during the tournament's first year at Alexandra Palace.
"I don’t think that Neil played at his normal speed really, he is always quite slow," said Trump. "He did what he had to do to go in front. He was quite boring in the first couple of frames and I lost interest.
"If I had played my best game I would have beat him quite easily."
Robertson, meanwhile, was unhappy with the conduct of his opponent.
"Some people I know are a bit fed up with Judd," he said. "If you were filming him 24 hours a day you would know that he is nothing like the character he portrays on Twitter.
"Judd is only 22, he has achieved more in his career than most players would dream of and he has a huge future ahead of him.
"I have no doubt that he will be a multiple world champion."
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O'Sullivan compares 'true professional' Trump to Hendry
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False personalities are difficult to manufacture and maintain in snooker due to the raw, exposed nature of combat.
Trump's mature dedication and all-round game is now formed on solid ground as the model professional he has become, but becoming the object of wider affection is beyond his potting pay grade.
You don't always get the credit you deserve, but there remains serious glory for Trump to pursue beyond a world of worthy plaudits.
He could become the first operator to win £2m in a season, is on course to end his career as the most prolific tournament winner in history and also the heaviest century maker.
But all this will mean little if he fails to upholster a World Championship record that does not match up to his ferocious ability.
Recognition beyond the sport tends to come with what a player can achieve at the sport's major event on a yearly basis.
"As a kid, when you're picking up your first cue from Santa, you dream about winning the World Championship and I'm sure Judd is no different," said the 1997 world champion Ken Doherty after Trump first reached world No. 1 in 2012.
"World No. 1 is nice, don't get me wrong, but I think all the great players have lifted that championship."
Ending his career with only one world title is nice for some, but not for others.
It would not be appreciated by Trump himself, far less the wider viewing public.
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