Neal Foulds snooker column: Judd Trump kicks off new season in style

It's good to be back.

I pen my first column of the new season at what is already an interesting juncture of the campaign, Judd Trump having continued his early domination of the calendar with victory over Mark Williams in a brilliant final of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, for good measure making himself £500,000 richer in the process.

It’s hard to fault the snooker we’ve seen so far. Judd has been by far and away the standout player and is clearly the man to beat right now. He absolutely trounced Shuan Murphy in the Shanghai Masters final and has backed that up, reaching another final at the Xi'an Grand Prix, before winning in Saudi Arabia in what was a quite remarkable finish to the final out there.

I thought Judd was a long way from his best at the World Championship back in the spring, but that’s not the first time that has happened. Judd has consistently enjoyed strong returns over the last few years, winning tournaments and going deep in events, and it’s no surprise that come Sheffield, he’s almost out on his feet.

You can’t turn form on like a tap and sustain the standards Judd has been setting over long periods, and that probably says a lot about the World Championship nowadays. It’s very hard for those form players to sustain peak form, particularly in a gruelling event like the World Championship. In many ways, Judd is a victim of his own success, but it’s a nice problem to have.

Back to the here now and I must say, Judd’s clearance to win the deciding frame against Mark Williams last week, from 62-0 behind, was one of the best breaks I’ve seen in a long time. It’s fair to say that tournament doesn’t have the prestige others have yet, but the amount of money riding on that break was phenomenal – even for a champion like Judd – and in truth, he didn’t ever look like missing.

He really does have incredible bottle in those situations. I’ve been thinking about the break a lot in the last few days and have pondered whether the pressure would have been greater were it a Crucible final. Clearly, my answer is yes. But that shouldn’t take anything away from the moment of last Saturday, and I just loved how brave and aggressive Judd was when so much was on the line.

Judd has made clearances like that before. One against Stephen Maguire in the semi-final of the Players Championship in 2020 stands out, and he’s just so reliable in those situations. Don’t forget, he was trailing Wu Yize 4-0 in the last 32 in Saudi Arabia, shades of his great escape against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh at the 2019 World Championship before he went on to win the tournament.

He really has developed into a brilliant champion, and it’s hard to envisage him not picking up more silverware in the coming months.

That’s not to say Judd is the only player to have impressed so far this season. Mark played brilliantly in Saudi Arabia and would’ve been a worthy winner there, but I want to give special praise to Kyren Wilson.

Snooker fans know only too well how hard it can be for a world champion the season after winning at the Crucible, particularly first-time world champions. The struggles Luca Brecel endured last season demonstrate that perfectly. Luca will be fine – he’s too good a player not to be – but we shouldn't underestimate the challenges he has faced.

And that’s just the same for Kyren. As such, I’m really pleased to see him start the season well, and to beat Judd in the final of the Xi'an Grand Prix not only gets a monkey off his back, it also suggests he might be a better player now than he’s ever been. Judd in current form is such a tough man to beat in a big final, but Kyren has shown he has the game to do it.

I always look to see how first-time world champions cope with everything that comes their way, and Kyren, being the model professional he is, has taken it all in his stride. Relished it, even. He’s backed up his Crucible heroics and I think he’ll be a very good world champion for the game.

While the likes of Kyren, Judd and Mark have hit the ground running, I know Ronnie O’Sullivan was disappointed to lose to Si Jiahui in the quarter-finals in Saudi Arabia last week. He’ll be 49 in December, so I guess it’s inevitable that decline will come at some stage, but he’s far from ‘finished’ as far as I'm concerned.

The facts are that in the next few months, Ronnie will be defending champion at the UK Championship, the Masters and the World Grand Prix. He was the outstanding player of last season and a quiet start this time around will soon be forgotten once he clicks into gear, just as he has done throughout his career.

The point I would like to make – and I’ve said this many times before – is that motivation away from the very biggest events will inevitably be a factor for Ronnie, and for some of the other top players moving into the later stages of their careers. The Home Nations Series is nine years and counting now and Ronnie has only been in the winner’s enclosure once – at the English Open in 2017.

I think when York and Alexandra Palace comes around, you’ll see Ronnie fully tuned up, as will be the case when he turns up in China for some of the valuable events hosted there. Nobody is writing Ronnie O’Sullivan off.

Ronnie has enough ranking points in the bank for now, but what last week did show is that the change we have seen at many tournaments with the reintroduction of the tiered draw system could have huge ramifications on the rankings. In theory, bringing back seedings and having the top-16 players starting at the last-32 stage of tournaments should’ve have pleased many of the top boys. But it’s not that simple.

In the flat 128-player draws of old, someone from the top 16 would invariably start against a vastly inferior opponent and pick up a few wins before things got tougher; now, with so few of those draws left on the calendar, the top boys have to come cold into matches that suddenly have an awful lot riding on then.

Take last week for example. People like Mark Selby and Mark Allen – the latter world number one at the start of the season – were beaten in the last 32 and in terms of ranking points, they went home with nothing. It’s the reason why Luca is in such a mess, especially when his World Championship points from 2023 come off. You only need a bad first half of the season and you’re in trouble.

Like I say, I do think the top-16 players prefer it this way, but if you’re struggling, you will quickly find yourself under the pump, and someone like Selby is now in danger of falling out of the top 16 at the end of the season. Every last-32 match he plays from here will be big pressure.

It certainly adds another fascinating dimension to many of these tournaments, starting with the English Open when the TV cameras are turned on in Brentwood on Monday. People are quick to criticise these events, and even the venues, but the people of Essex have always supported snooker well and you are sure to see passionate, packed crowds all week, ensuring a terrific atmosphere.

The season is really getting rolling now and there is much to look forward to.