24.3.09

PUT YOUR SHIRT ON JUDD

A change of shirt seemed to do the trick for Judd Trump, who bounced back from a 4-0 defeat to Steve Davis to move close to a place in the semi-finals of group 7 of the Championship League last night.

Trump wore a white shirt for the Davis whitewash but changed into a grey one for the rest of his matches.

And he played very well, particularly in beating Ricky Walden 3-1, clearing up with 71 from 0-56 to win the last frame. He starts today top of the table.

Trump turned professional at 16 off the back of a very successful junior career. He did so with big expectations placed on his young shoulders.

It's amazing how quick people are to carp just because he isn't already a world beater.

Players mature at different rates. Anyone who believes that because he hasn't won a major tournament by 19 - like Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Higgins did - he never will should think of Stephen Maguire and Shaun Murphy.

They were each 22 when they won their first titles. They are now respectively 2nd and 3rd in the world rankings.

I have faith that Judd will make the transition from being a great prospect to a title winner in the next few years.

Trump has been eliminated from the World Championship but will be in next week's China Open and loves playing so much that he probably would have been practising anyway.

Matthew Stevens, on the other hand, is already out of both China and the World Championship and so could be forgiven for rustiness yesterday.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a genuine question for you Dave, if you happen to know. You said Matthew Stevens could be excused for being rusty brecause the season is over for him. However if he really wanted to participate in PL you would expect him to practice. Now if he saw the CLS as merely a good and lucrative preparation fot the WC (I suppose he was still in the race when he applied) then of course it's different. But what would happen if he had withdrawed? Would another player be given the chance to compete in CLS?

andy said...

Trump will come up smelling of roses.

Couldn't resist that one...

Dave H said...

Getting knocked out of the World Championship - particularly for a player like Matthew Stevens - is demoralising and I can understand why he didn't feel like picking his cue up.

If anyone withdraws the organisers try and find someone to fill their place.

Anonymous said...

excellent blog dave! credit where its due. it wasnt lots of words, but it said so much mate. go judd!

your friend from *that* other blog

Sammy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Trumps in the Final!

BTW anon at 7:48, what is *that* other blog?

Anonymous said...

well done trump

(that other blog comment was for Dave)

Anonymous said...

nice to see Judd performing well- at times it was like watching Jimmy White 20 years ago- I expect Judd will win a few world titles thought unless the Chinese take over and fill most of the top ten before he gets the cup!

Anonymous said...

he is as good as anyone in the 17 - 26 age bracket.

have followed his career for several years now.

nice guy, very quiet at first....

will be a top player, but couldnt predict more than two WC titles as times change rapidly...