Snooker column: Nick Metcalfe on whether hat-trick hero Judd Trump is yet a snooker great
Judd Trump has just completed a remarkable hat-trick of tournament wins, but Nick Metcalfe argues that only by winning the World Championship again can he achieve greatness.
Judd Trump's achievements in recent weeks have been quite remarkable. Winning three tournaments in one season is a mighty effort. It's what Mark Allen did in 2022/23 after all and by pretty much everyone's reckoning, he was the player of the campaign. To win three tournaments in a row, now that's just stunning.
Trump has had every part of his snooker game tested in the last month, along with every aspect of his temperament. His formidable skills on the table have tallied with admirable perseverance, tenacity and nerve. He's passed all the examinations with flying colours.
This purple patch is only part of Trump's glorious snooker story. He's long established himself as one of the finest players of his generation. And he's done it in his own special way, with a flamboyance and effervescence that is reminiscent of past mavericks like Alex Higgins and Jimmy White.
Trump was always likely to be a big deal in this sport. He was talked about in snooker circles long before he turned professional. And he burst into public consciousness with a thrilling run to the World Championship final in 2011. His fearless, manic brand of snooker that fortnight quickly won him many new fans and with a little more nous, he might well have beaten John Higgins to claim the title.
That was just the start for Trump. The UK Championship title came later that year, and regular ranking wins followed in the seasons after. And then from late 2018 came a two-year period of domination that was as comprehensive as anything we had seen in a long time. It included a world title success, with perhaps the most complete performance in any Crucible final. When snooker was taken behind closed doors due to the Covid pandemic, we were effectively watching the Judd Trump Show.
So, Trump's utter brilliance is not in doubt for a second. Why then do I still struggle to see him as a snooker great? Generally, I have a problem across all sports with our christening of greatness and often find myself wincing when seeing individuals and teams described in articles as "great". We surely all know what that status means. And we shouldn't hand it out without significant care and affection.
Trump's CV is clearly a stellar one. He's now fifth on the list of ranking event winners. If you asked most snooker people to construct their own all-time top ten, he would likely creep in. But the bottom line is, he's still light on victories in the game's blue riband events.
Trump has obviously helped his cause by claiming the Masters title twice in the last five years. But he's not added to his UK Championship tally since that 2011 win. He has reached two more finals but in his nine other appearances in York, he's not been as far as the last eight. That's not a top level record. Remember, we're talking greatness here.
And so to the Big Daddy of them all. The World Championship at the Crucible. Trump has reached three finals, winning the title once. He's twice lost in the semi-finals. It's obviously a very strong and impressive record, but great? You'd need the most persuasive of tongues to argue that.
Let's look at the other one-time winners in the Crucible era: Terry Griffiths, Cliff Thorburn, Dennis Taylor, Joe Johnson, John Parrott, Ken Doherty, Peter Ebdon, Shaun Murphy, Graeme Dott, Neil Robertson, Stuart Bingham and Luca Brecel. In my books, the only player you'd even suggest labelling as a great among these would be Robertson. And the jury is out on that too.
The bonafide greats of this sport are multiple winners of the World Championship. I still think it's one of the best yardsticks. Harking back to previous generations, there are snooker stalwarts like the Davis brothers Joe (x15) and Fred (x8). From the modern era, there's the likes of Ronnie O'Sullivan (x7), Stephen Hendry (x7), Steve Davis (x6), Ray Reardon (x6), John Higgins (x4), Mark Selby (x4) and Mark Williams (x3).
Trump is clearly behind all those, and in most cases he's country miles behind. I can hear you from here saying, "give it time" - and of course you're very likely right. Trump is still only 34, and given the example being set by the "Class of 92", he could well have a good 15 years left at the top. That's a lot of visits to Sheffield. You'd bet good money on him attaining undoubted greatness. To which I say, what's the big rush then?
It's actually very easy to get behind the Trump mantra of trying to win everything. He just wants to put trophies in the cabinet, whatever the week. It's an approach that is serving him very well. But we're a little more nuanced than that when it comes to assessing sporting careers, aren't we?
A golfer can have a superb record in the Players Championship or World Match Play, but will ultimately be judged on how they fare in the four majors. In tennis, a player can put a couple of World Tour Finals titles in the cabinet and quite rightly be heralded, but their record in the big ones in Melbourne, Paris, Wimbledon and New York will determine how they're viewed long term. Turn in star performances on the track or in the field at Diamond League meetings and you'll be toasted by athletics fans everywhere, but if you don't deliver in Olympics or World Championships your status can only ever reach a certain level.
It can feel harsh, but it's how the minds of sports fans work. We need those peak weeks, when everyone competing or watching knows there's something that bit extra at stake. And the very best have always had that innate ability to produce when it matters the most.
In half a decade's time, this could very well all be redundant. But I'm not a soothsayer so will just say, as I write this in November 2023, I don't yet see Trump as a great of snooker. He still has work to do.
Wakelin run to Northern Ireland final shows Shoot Out has its value
It was a delight to see Chris Wakelin reach the Northern Ireland Open final. This is a snooker player coming of age before our eyes.
The 31-year-old Englishman has had a perfectly reasonable record in his decade as a professional, but for the first time he's looking properly capable of reaching the next level.
It struck me that the Shoot Out, for all the flak it receives, can be as good as any tournament victory in building confidence and momentum. We saw the same with Hossein Vafaei when he won it last year.
I'm as uncomfortable as most people with the ranking event status of the Shoot Out, but silverware is silverware and you can see how it's helping Wakelin towards a new phase of his snooker life.