Judd Trump has fired a warning shot to World No 1 Ronnie O’Sullivan ahead of a potential final against the legendary figure at the 2022 World Snooker Championship following his superb comeback victory over Stuart Bingham at the Crucible.
Trump, who hit some superb form in 2019-20 and 2020-21, has endured a tough season of snooker, winning just two tournaments compared to his combined 10 in the two aforementioned seasons. The Bristol-born star looked set to bow out of another tournament after going 8-5 down to Bingham in the quarter-final on Wednesday.
But an immense 13-8 win, taking the final eight frames, has set up a tantalising clash against Mark Williams in the semi-final before a potential final on Sunday against O’Sullivan. And the star has fired him a warning that he is back to his best, with the win rekindling his love for the game.
“Ronnie (O’Sullivan) was through, Mark Williams played amazing, John Higgins and Jack Lisowski,” Trump told Eurosport. “It was a semi-final I wanted to be a part of. I am not ready to go home just yet.
“I feel I am improving very slowly, and maybe by next year’s World Championship I will be playing better! Now with the one-table setup, I can’t wait to get going. I am so happy. I’m not normally this happy to still be in an event, but I’ve not played that well so it’s like a free shot for me. I’m going under the radar, no-one expects me to win so I am playing with so much freedom.
“I have had no pressure, just battling my hardest and I’ve got a free shot at Mark Williams. I’ve lost a couple of quarter-finals the last two years so I’ve missed that one-table setup.” Trump then talked further about his win over Bingham, claiming that it was a surprise that he won.
“It was a surprise in the end, as I was 8-5 down and looking down and out,” Trump said. “All of a sudden he started to miss a few, he missed a black off the spot and lost all momentum. I felt a lot more confident coming into tonight’s session. Stuart was missing a few and I could tell from his body language, he was not feeling confident so I was trying not to miss anything too easy.
“I was in Shredsville. I could not pot a ball, honestly. It is one of those things, you are just happy for the opponent not to miss as you don’t want another chance as you won’t pot anything. I just tried to dig in and tried to enjoy it.
“I was not trying to get down, enjoy what was going on out there. Play with a smile on my face, which is something I have not been doing very much these last few years. Just enjoy the battle a bit more.
“My touch was coming back a bit towards the end and I felt I was striking the ball better and a bit more confident.”