Judd Trump - between a Ferrari and a Mini Cooper

Juddy - a bit rude in his after-winning interview

In 2010 he was winning the Paul Hunter Classic by seeing off "The Sherriff of Pottingham", Anthony Hamilton, but the big-trophy-grabbing was when he stunned us all and won the 2011 China Open by beating Mark Selby, a far more experience played than him.

The World Championship followed up next and he went all the way though the final, but John Higgins was there to stop him from winning it. 

Then, the new season arrived and Trump took care of his winning list to complete it with no more than two PTC titles (PTC 2 and PTC 9), while the end of the year brought him one of the most desirable and loved trophies of them all - the UK Championship crown.

Fans have been mad with excitement because Trump is representing that breath of fresh air, that player that take on the most "dangerous" shots and the one that keeps the audience biting its nails. He has style, he has talent, he enjoys snooker more than anyone, he is young, he is restless, he is ... a kind of rude.

After beating Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-2 during the current Masters quarter-finals match, Trump was invited to give an interview for the World Snooker. Among other things, this is what he said:

"I just want to go my own way and do things a little bit different to people in the past, I want my own identity. I don't want to be seen as the next Ronnie O'Sullivan, I want to be seen as Judd Trump, not the person who copied Ronnie O'Sullivan."

Now, that seems fair. No one likes to be compared with another person all the time, non-stop. Although you feel good at the beginning, at some point you will wonder if the people like you for yourself of because you remind them of someone famous.

He continued: 

"I was quite nervous at the start today, but when I got in front and won the first frame, all the pressure turned to him. He [Ronnie O’Sullivan] wanted to get a frame on the board so I tried to keep him away from the table.

"I know Ronnie was in a good frame of mind today, I know he tried to the end. He missed one or two early on, but apart from that I didn't really miss anything to give him chances. If Ronnie keeps playing, and avoids me, he will still be winning tournaments."

Targeting O'Sullivan

Hm ... that's a joke right? I mean, sure it is. "If he keeps playing and avoids me", must have been said in order to cut the tension and the seriousness of the talk and steal a laugh. Fair enough.

And now comes the interesting part. When asked if he was upset because he hit a beautiful 140 (that was she highest break of the tournament) but then O'Sullivan hit a great 141, he replied:

"That seriously hurt!," he joked. "I was sat in my chair praying for him to miss or not go for it. I had to go out and cry in the toilets! That was my insurance for a Ferrari... so now I'm going to have to get a Mini Cooper!"

Was that really necessary? I guess not. Was that meat as a joke? Most like it. Was it a bad one? Sure it was.
Now, don't take this the wrong way, but that was a bit rude. I'm sure he didn't mean it to be, but it was. And that's how is going to remain in fans' mind, especially O'Sullivan's ones.

Over the years there have been many players whose statements made the fans mad. The late Alex Higgins made some pretty nasty ones and his conduct wasn't always good, even O'Sullivan has had his share of take-me-as-I-am-or-leave-me-alone, not to mention the latest events between Stuart Bingham and Mark Allen.

But what separates Trump's case from the above ones is that his words weren't actually meant for Ronnie, because Ronnie could have very well not made that 141 and the break could have been made during the next match by a totally different player. And Trump would have said the same things. So I don’t think this was directed to Ronnie in particular, he just happened to be the man he played against at that time.

On the other hand this doesn't make his statement less unfair. He behaved just like a spoiled child whose dream of buying a Ferrari was crushed. He wanted that car so much, that deep down he was really wishing for his opponent to miss a ball. 

Bit don't let yourselves fooled, because each and every one of the players you know has wished for his opponent to miss a ball at a certain point. So, that's not a sin.

What I'm really trying to say here is that Judd is ... well a child. He's 22 and he's still learning how things go in life. He doesn't know what's best to say or not say and doesn't think that some words might offend someone. Maybe not O’Sullivan (in this case), but the fans that have put their trust in you.

I remember a couple of months ago when Trump said that he would like to see each big tournament running with a shot-clock. Blimey, that's just preposterous! That's the silliest thing to come from a player that wants to promote snooker and not some kind of "speed-race" snooker. I mean really, that's just ridiculous.

It's puerile and it has nothing to do with what real snooker means. But that's something Trump must learn on his own.

So, yeah, his conduct wasn't very nice, he was rude and even if it was meant as a joke, it was a really bad one. He showed himself to be disrespectful towards a legend of the sport even if it wasn't made on purpose. And that's coming from a person that's O'Sullivan’s biggest fan. 

Trump will need to learn a thing or two about respect, but above all about filtrating his thoughts. Because you see, each player has negative thoughts, each player wants to win and for his opponent to lose, each player has a bad thing to say about a colleague, each player has wanted to punch his rival in the face (at least once), but they keep it to themselves.

That's something to think about.