Judd Trump is having a phenomenal year. Within the past 12 months, he has won a number of wonderful trophies. After winning the Masters and the World Championship, he became the eleventh player in history to win the Triple Crown. Here are his list of victories:
- Northern Ireland Open vs. Ronnie O’Sullivan (2018)
- Masters vs. Ronnie O’Sullivan (2019)
- World Grand Prix vs. Ali Carter (2019)
- World Snooker Championship vs. John Higgins (2019)
- International Championship vs. Shaun Murphy (2019)
- World Open vs. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (2019)
- Northern Ireland Open vs. Ronnie O’Sullivan (2019)
All of that is well and good. Rather deservedly and predictably, many people jumped on the bandwagon to say that Judd Trump will dominate the sport in many years to come. Many were saying it’s long overdue. He reaped such vast rewards in such a short space of time. Because he is now in the Triple Crown club and is, at the time of writing, 8th in the ranking-event winners list, many are asking if he should be considered an all-time great of snooker.
So does Ronnie O’Sullivan think Judd is now an all-time great?
There isn’t a better person to ask the definition of an all-time great than Ronnie O’Sullivan. Arguably the greatest player to hold a snooker cue, he has achieved it all, been there, done that, signed the T-shirt and did it all over again.
He talks about it in an interview below and was asked if Judd Trump was considered an all-time great and he said, “Judd is a fantastic player and a great talent but the true test is doing it over 10-15 years.”
Essentially, one swallow doesn’t make a summer. Judd was phenomenal this year, but it will all be forgotten if he doesn’t carry on dominating in such a similar fashion. Ronnie argues Judd needs to prove himself over a longer period of time, winning tournaments, beating records, holding onto the No. 1 spot and scoring centuries. Judd needs to be more than a Triple Crown winner. The players Ronnie mentioned, Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis, John Higgins and Ray Reardon, have far superior achievements than Judd has.
With that, I think Ronnie O’Sullivan is talking absolute sense. He’s absolutely right. It will take an extraordinary amount to reach that level.
What makes an all-time great?
Let’s look at the similarities of the players Ronnie mentioned earlier: Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis, John Higgins and Ray Reardon. The thing to note off the bat very early on is that you do not have to win the Triple Crown to be an all-time great. Let’s not forget, Ray Reardon didn’t win the UK Championship in his era. Jimmy White, who already has legendary status, of course didn’t win the World Championship.
They all won the number of Triple Crown events multiple times. This would include the likes of Mark Williams and even by this criteria Mark Selby! This rules out the likes of Stuart Bingham, Stephen Maguire, Mark Allen and Ken Doherty. O’Sullivan deducted in the same interview that Doherty a very, very good player, but not among the all-time greats.
An all-time great is also likely to be someone who has defined the game, won almost everything in the sport and is talked about decades after his peak. under that criteria, you could argue that Jimmy White is the only player who has not won the Triple Crown to be considered one of the gods.
The grey areas of being considered to be an all-time great
A lot of fans would concur that the names mentioned above, including Joe Davis, Alex Higgins and Dennis Taylor are the all-time greats.
But multiple Triple Crown winner? Entertainer? Involved in the most memorable moment? Century-break builder? Personality?
There are so many grey areas to how each of us define an all-time great and that comes down to opinion. What would take priority for you? As if you ever would, but please don’t take this for gospel! Here are a few examples:
Ding Junhui may have won Triple Crown events three times. He is a national hero but that’s not synonymous to being a great. During the 2013/2014 season, he won five ranking titles. But this feat is likely to be forgotten if Ding doesn’t jump over the final hurdle and finally be World Champion. You can’t be a great without fulfilling your own potential.
Mark Selby has won 8 Triple Crown events. He is a 3-time World Champion and a 3-time Masters champion. He was No. 1 for seven seasons. Yet some don’t named among the relevant elite. A lot of people have a lot of angst over his style of play. But legend Cliff Thorburn is a slower, attritional, more tactical and more safety-laden player – attributes similar to Selby. It does make you wonder if Selby isn’t a great already, what else does he need to do? Even Selby himself played down claims that he is a snooker great.
I could go on. What about Triple Crown winners Shaun Murphy and 100 century-breaker Neil Robertson? Is winning 3 Masters titles enough for Paul Hunter to be alongside the likes of Hendry as a snooker great? John Spencer? These are some of the many hypothetical questions of numerous permutations that a lot of people might be asking and answering.
Is Judd on his way to being an all-time great?
Of course he is.
It’s a relief that Judd has achieved that he’s expected to achieve – the World Championship. But he has to dominate the game like the likes of Selby, Hendry, O’Sullivan and Davis have and show the longevity of Williams and Higgins. Snooker will be a different game in ten years time in one way or another. If the ‘Chinese invasion’ in five or ten years is fulfilled, it will be likely up to Trump to resist it from happening and stand through the test of time. He has already introduced his own brand of ‘naughty snooker’ – he needs to win more with it.
Not only does one need to be a great on the table, but also off it. Davis and Hendry showed to be cold, ruthless and studious players, while on the other side of the spectrum, Alex Higgins and Jimmy White are born party animals. Judd seemed to be on both sides. Even as a champion, he took the responsibility extremely seriously, his interview decorum and manner has improved drastically. Maybe his journey will make him an all-time great.
But everyone knows Judd has a lot of work to do and I’m looking forward to it.
