Name: Judd Trump

DOB: August 21st, 1989

Nationality: English

Turned Pro: 2005

Highest Ranking: #30 (2009/10)

Current Ranking: #30

Highest Break: 142 (2007 World Championship Qualifiers) (147 in an u16 tournament)

Career Highlights: 2009 Championship League Winner, 2008 Grand Prix Semi-finalist, 2007 World Championship and 2006 Welsh Open Last 32, 2008 Masters Qualifying Event winner

In short

One of the most exciting young players in the game, it has taken Judd a while to translate his outstanding junior form onto the main tour. He has said himself that he hasn’t quite been able to perform on TV as yet, but his victories over Joe Perry and Ronnie O’Sullivan in the 2008 Grand Prix are bound to give him a huge lift.

From what I have seen of Judd’s game, like many of the modern players he seems to play an aggressive brand of snooker that bodes very well for the future. Personally I love to watch the players like Hendry or O’Sullivan who look to split the reds as soon as possible and it seems that Judd plays the game in the same way. His obvious weakness does appear to be his sometimes questionable shot selection, but he is only 19 years old and it is something that will come with experience.

How far can he go in the game? His run at the Grand Prix will surely help him up into the top 32 provisionally and if he can continue to perform consistently for the rest of the season, who knows, maybe a top 16 place isn’t out of the question? Either way I think it will come sooner or later…

Junior career

As a junior, Judd showed his prodigious potential from an early age as he won several titles at national level, as well as good performances on the European stage.

His most notable achievements include English titles at under-15, under-13 and under-18 levels, as well as semi-final appearances in the prestigious European under-19 and World under-21 tournaments. In addition he became the youngest man to make a 147 in a competitive match in March 2004, aged just 14 while competing in an under-16 tournament in Leicester. Also beating Mike Hallett in the Pontin’s Open in 2003, he showed early on that he could compete against players who were vastly more experience than him.

Going pro

As a result of these considerable achievements, Judd turned professional in 2005 as he was awarded the wildcard spot on the main tour by the WSA.

His debut season as a pro was largely unremarkable, although he did become the youngest player to qualify for the TV stages of a ranking event tournament at the 2006 Welsh Open. Also he at least managed to retain his place on the tour by virtue of being the fourth best player on the one year rankings who finished outside of the top 64.

World debut

Ranked 74, his second season was not the most remarkable either, that is until he managed to win four qualifying matches to become the third 17-year-old to qualify for the World Championship at the Crucible. Drawn against 2005 champion Shaun Murphy in the first round, he put in a good performance to lead 6-5 before Murphy came back to win the next five frames and win 10-6.

Now up to 51st in the rankings, Judd did not have the best of seasons in 2007/8 as struggled to build on that World Championship run. He did move up another ten places in the rankings though, to a career high of 41.

Grand Prix Breakthrough

Now only needing to win two qualifying matches to reach the last 32 stage of events, Judd started the 2008/9 season promisingly by qualifying for the first three events of the season.

His big break was to come at the Royal London Watches Grand Prix however where having qualified for the last 32, he received a bye into the last 16 following Graeme Dott’s withdrawal. Already a tournament best, he managed to overcome the in-form Joe Perry 5-2 to set up an intriguing quarter-final tie against world number one Ronnie O’Sullivan.

In what was a match of high drama, Trump eventually managed to get over the winning line to secure a famous 5-4 win, undoubtedly the best result of his career so far to make his first ranking event semi-final. Here he would face John Higgins though who despite not playing at his best, just had too much experience for Judd and held off a brave fightback to win the match 6-4.

Subsequent Form

Still though it was a great achievement to get that far and a run that seems to have given him a lot of confidence if his subsequent results are anything to go by. He defeated double world champion Mark Williams to qualify for the next event in Bahrain and followed this up with an excellent run to victory in the Wembley Masters qualifying event, culminating in a 6-1 final win over Mark Joyce. Though he went down to Mark Allen in the first round at Wembley, he had at least played some impressive snooker and gained further experience in one of the biggest tournaments in snooker.

After that however came a mixed month in March. It began with a huge disappointment as he lost out to Stephen Lee in the final qualifying round for the World Championship at the English Institute for Sport in Sheffield. For a long time it looked as if he would win the match but Stephen produced a terrific comeback from 6-2 down and won the match with one of the finest clearances he has ever made.

While Judd was disappointed to lose out, he responded in the best way, returning to the venue the very next day to resume practice ahead of the China Open. Not only this but he took part in the final group of the Championship League, going on to take it with victory against Ricky Walden to qualify for the winners group. He was not to be stopped there however as he managed to claim victory in the final against world number four Mark Selby and in doing so, take the first silverware (well glass), of his professional career. As a result he will now make his Premier League debut live on SkySports next season and continue his remarkable progression…

Non-Ranking Event wins (1)

Profile supplied by Matt Huart (http://prosnookerblog.com/)