Judd Trump - A possible underachiever in the making?
The 2016 World Championship marked the fifth anniversary of when Trump first became an established regular qualifier for tournaments and indeed a regular presence in the BBC televised events.
The Trump of the 2011 Crucible campaign was one full of confidence. Buoyed by the victory in the China Open and with it an entry into the top 16 - Trump's first round tie on opening Saturday against defending champion Neil Robertson had turned from a stern test of the defending champions credentials to a real chance of doing well - as proved to be the case when he knocked Robertson out. Despite missing out to John Higgins much was expected from Trump - and the UK Championship duly arrived seven months later.
I remember remarking at the time that it would be interesting to see how Trump would react once he had received some metaphorical bruises that each player picks up from time to time. - Those arrived for Trump in surprisingly losing to Robertson in the Masters Semi-Final after such a strong display against O'Sullivan - a relatively early exit at the Crucible before losing the Shanghai Final having been 7-2 in front at the end of the first session - with 2012 finishing with a first round defeat in his UK Championship defence, again having had a considerable lead.
Since 2011, Trump has spent time at number 1 in the rankings and has won a few titles - five in the mainstream ranking events - but it came as some sort of surprise that since his UK Championship win the 2014 final is the only appearance in a triple crown final and in the case of the UK Championships the only time he's truly threatened to emulate his 2011 achievement. In more than one instances in the other events - Trump hasn't necessarily capitalized on big opportunities in instances when draws have seemingly appeared on paper to have opened up for him. - The 2015 and 2016 World Championships (despite going out to some great performances) along with the 2015 UK Championship and 2016 German Masters being recent examples of not capitalizing on good chances in big events.
Much has been made of his use of twitter and in particular with what happened at the Crucible. Though his use of social media remains entirely his choice - it may well be better to only use it outside of matches and not during the interval when he should arguably have more pressing matters on his mind.
This may sound rather harsh given Trump is only 26 but given his well known and well documented potential - given that he's not delivered as much in the triple crown events as you'd arguably have expected and that he's not necessarily converted some of his strong opportunities into tournament victories - is there a chance that Judd Trump could possibly finish his career - an underachiever?
Thoughts?
The Trump of the 2011 Crucible campaign was one full of confidence. Buoyed by the victory in the China Open and with it an entry into the top 16 - Trump's first round tie on opening Saturday against defending champion Neil Robertson had turned from a stern test of the defending champions credentials to a real chance of doing well - as proved to be the case when he knocked Robertson out. Despite missing out to John Higgins much was expected from Trump - and the UK Championship duly arrived seven months later.
I remember remarking at the time that it would be interesting to see how Trump would react once he had received some metaphorical bruises that each player picks up from time to time. - Those arrived for Trump in surprisingly losing to Robertson in the Masters Semi-Final after such a strong display against O'Sullivan - a relatively early exit at the Crucible before losing the Shanghai Final having been 7-2 in front at the end of the first session - with 2012 finishing with a first round defeat in his UK Championship defence, again having had a considerable lead.
Since 2011, Trump has spent time at number 1 in the rankings and has won a few titles - five in the mainstream ranking events - but it came as some sort of surprise that since his UK Championship win the 2014 final is the only appearance in a triple crown final and in the case of the UK Championships the only time he's truly threatened to emulate his 2011 achievement. In more than one instances in the other events - Trump hasn't necessarily capitalized on big opportunities in instances when draws have seemingly appeared on paper to have opened up for him. - The 2015 and 2016 World Championships (despite going out to some great performances) along with the 2015 UK Championship and 2016 German Masters being recent examples of not capitalizing on good chances in big events.
Much has been made of his use of twitter and in particular with what happened at the Crucible. Though his use of social media remains entirely his choice - it may well be better to only use it outside of matches and not during the interval when he should arguably have more pressing matters on his mind.
This may sound rather harsh given Trump is only 26 but given his well known and well documented potential - given that he's not delivered as much in the triple crown events as you'd arguably have expected and that he's not necessarily converted some of his strong opportunities into tournament victories - is there a chance that Judd Trump could possibly finish his career - an underachiever?
Thoughts?
- PLtheRef
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