Judd Trump continues to make his case for being one of snooker’s all-time greatest players, with veteran pro Anthony Hamilton now seeing him joint-sixth in the top 10, alongside Mark Selby.
The current world number one is enjoying another brilliant season having won the UK Championship, Saudi Arabia Masters and Shanghai Masters.
The 35-year-old won five ranking events last season and has continued his relentless winning run this campaign, with his ranking title tally now standing at an incredible 30.
If there is any criticism of Trump it is that he has not landed the biggest prize in the game enough yet, with one World Championship title to his name thanks to beating John Higgins in the 2019 Crucible final.
Hamilton believes the lack of multiple World Championships at this stage of his career means he remains behind, or possibly level with, players who have conquered the Crucible on more than one occasion.
‘It’s hard to put him ahead of people like Steve Davis yet, with how dominant he was and how many world titles and BBC events he won,’ Hamilton told Metro.
‘He’s up there, probably sixth? But it’s hard to work it out. There’s the obvious Class of 92 players [Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Williams], [Steve] Davis and [Stephen] Hendry, there’s five. So the highest he can be is sixth and he probably is sixth.
‘I suppose Selby and Trump are maybe joint sixth because Trump’s a bit more prolific by Selby’s winning the big ones isn’t he?
‘I imagine the pressure on his shoulders to start doing well in Sheffield is immense.
‘That’s why the other players have to be put above him because they’ve dealt with that pressure themselves. They’ve had the same amount of pressure to get enough of the Triple Crowns, if you want to call them, under their belts for their legacy and they’ve dealt with it. Until he starts dealing with that you can’t put him any higher than sixth.’
Hamilton is certainly not knocking Trump’s achievements and expects him to add to his world title tally and keep climbing the all-time list.
‘I’m not putting him down because I love the geezer, he’s a sound guy as well, gets on with the job,’ said the Sheriff of Pottingham. ‘I think he’s the nuts. But the other five above him have done the business in the big ones so you can’t argue with it.
‘He’s still live as well. Above him, one or two aren’t playing anymore and the others are on their way down, so he can easily become the second or third best ever. It’ll be tough to beat Ronnie’s records, but he’s up there.’
Hamilton added that of all the players on the planet right now, Trump is the one he would have least confidence in beating.
‘One thing is, I wouldn’t want to play him,’ he said. ‘No matter how bad he plays he’s hard to beat. He’s impressed me so much with his work ethic and his will to win, it’s phenomenal.
‘Sometimes he doesn’t play that well, he’s often struggling but if you don’t put him away he’ll be on you, he never goes away.
‘He can still turn it on, like when he smashed Zhang Anda at the UK. That scares you because he’s got that in him. I wouldn’t like to play him.
‘Play the other greats and they can have an off day at the moment and you half fancy your chances, but with him, unless it was a best-of-seven I just can’t imagine beating him, unless I had 100 every single frame!’
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