Judd Trump has spoken about his Saudi prize money. (Image: Getty Images)
Judd Trump is determined to maintain his grip on the World No.1 ranking, despite harbouring fears that he may not be able to defend the prize money won in Saudi Arabia this season. And, while Crucible title speculation swirls around the likes of Zhao Xintong, Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins, the 2019 champion knows that a second-round victory over Hossein Vafaei will keep him firmly at the summit of the rankings.
Trump takes considerable pride in his position atop a stellar field of snooker talent. The 36-year-old has amassed 31 ranking titles and the sport’s most coveted prize, yet the distinction of leading the rankings hierarchy means a great deal to him. Trump said: “Absolutely, I like being No.1. I take a lot of pride from that.
“I think it’s going to be difficult to keep unless I do really well here in the next season, with the points coming off and I don’t know if Saudi Arabia is going to be on, stuff like that.
“But, if I win the World Championship, it puts that all to bed, really.
“I enjoy the other people being spoken about a lot more because it’s just all the pressure is on them.
“If no-one’s expecting me to win, it’s not going to be a shock if I don’t. Obviously, I know deep down that I’m more than good enough to win it and I have a lot of confidence in myself. But I enjoy being the underdog at the same time.
“I don’t agree when people say there’s massive favourites. You don’t know how you’re going to play until you get out there in the World Championship.
“Before the last three years, there’s normally four or five people that you’d say have got a good chance of winning it. You look down the history of the event, it’s Ronnie, [Mark] Selby, Higgins, they take it in turns.
“But then you’ve got Luca [Brecel], Kyren [Wilson], [Zhao] Xintong, nobody probably picked any of them to win at the start of the event.
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Judd Trump is hoping for a second world title. (Image: Getty Images)
“The Crucible used to be that you needed the experience and now, maybe, you need to be a little bit more naive and go for your shots, so I feel like there is a little bit of changing of the guard.
“I think that some of the players I mentioned are getting on a little bit. They’re still amazing, just maybe not as consistent and I think when you’ve got these young guys coming in, not scared, taking everything on and it’s flying in, there’s not much you can do. You don’t really know what’s going to happen.”
Trump takes outside observations with a truckload of salt and added: “I don’t really care about anyone else’s opinion apart from myself, so I think there’s two ways you can look at it.
“You can use it as motivation or you can get down on yourself. I use it as motivation to go out there and, if I win the event, then next year I’m going to be the one talking about it. If I don’t, then they were right, weren’t they?
“I think if you start playing well in the quarter-finals, that’s when you want to be building up. The longer format.
“I don’t really know what the right preparation is. I think every time I’ve done it differently. The year I won it, I think I went away on holiday before. I don’t really think there is a right or wrong in that sense.
“I lost in the final in the last tournament. I didn’t play well. I made a few changes, but I was able to practise quite hard for this and there’s no excuses if I don’t win. As I say every year, there’s just too many other good players.”