Donald gives me a bad name, says potting ace Trump
A RECURRING scene has been playing out in Judd Trump’s life over the past year. It involves a hotel check-in desk, a smirking member of staff and eventually that same question. ‘It’s almost every time,’ he says. ‘They’ll look at my details and say something like, “Oh, that’s unfortunate — do you wish you had a different name?” ‘He’s on Twitter saying stuff all the time, isn’t he? He’s giving the rest of us a bad name.’ With that, the 28-year-old laughs. Funny things, reputations. The calmer of two Trumps has long been fighting his own battles against public perception in the course of world domination. He is forever marketed as snooker’s charismatic heir to Ronnie O’Sullivan, but the difficulty with being the next big thing is that ‘next’, eventually, has to be ‘now’. The parallels with O’Sullivan and Trump have always been easy to draw. They take risks, both are great entertainers and are unplayable at their best. They can also switch between genius and petulance, frustrated by snooker’s grind. In the past week alone, Trump has reached the final at the Shanghai Masters, losing to O’Sullivan, and then conceded his first-round match at the Northern Ireland Open on Tuesday by thrashing the balls with his cue after missing a pot. But he insists he is changing and perhaps the biggest change for the good was in the summer. Trump has rarely discussed the extent of his struggles with his eyesight but admits it was ‘atrocious’ before he finally overcome his fear of laser treatment. ‘I remember an event in Sheffield six years ago. I could barely open my eyes they were so dry from the air conditioning. I lost 4-1 and I was literally missing balls. I think I would say 20 per cent of the last 10 years I have played with perfect vision. It got to a point in the summer where I thought I just had to do something.’ Having had the treatment, he is convinced he can get back to world No 1. ‘The difference is ridiculous,’ he says. The next stop is the UK Championship in York, part of snooker’s big three. ‘Give me a crowd and that’s when I’m at my best,’ he says. Whether Trump’s best is good enough for world domination remains to be seen.