What next for Judd?
Breakthrough moments in sport can come in all different
shapes and sizes.
While Judd has had a few in the past, Sunday night’s Masters
triumph at the Alexandra Palace could certainly be another.
His resounding defeat of Ronnie O’Sullivan – the sport’s
most successful player in this tournament – lands him his first major title
since 2011 and could be the moment that he breaks through the ceiling to go on
and land a hatful more. After all, it is his wins in these events that will
ultimately define his legacy in the sport.
Aged 29, Judd is without doubt the most accomplished and
well-decorated player in his age bracket with nine ranking titles to his name
and having achieved a sustained and stable period at the very top of the
rankings.
But this doesn’t hide whispering in the game from those who
believe his trophy return in the sport’s blue riband events is short of his
talent. We can speculate as much as we want about why he has waited so long for
this win. Dedication, mental strength and many more factors are touted as
playing a part. We’ve heard them all, but sport is about looking forward rather
than looking back. Every top player has battle scars from painful defeats in
the past, but now the task for Judd becomes about capitalising on this win and
getting more.
As he lifted the Paul Hunter Trophy on Sunday, he landed the
second of snooker’s Triple Crown events and got back that taste of winning one
of the big ones again.
It will feel long overdue for the ambitious Judd who not
only knows how good he is when he’s at his best but also knows that criticism
and expectation on him have been high. For all these reasons, it is important
he enjoys the win and there is no doubt it sticks one back on his doubters.
This win puts a bit of that to bed for now but the challenge
ahead is for him to go on and keep doing it. He needs to use this as a
springboard to become a serial winner of the biggest titles.
Of course, this is no easy task and doesn’t just become a
formality. Winning the big events is no easy feat and there are so many top
players around with the same ambition.
After a win of this magnitude, it is natural for attention
to turn to April’s World Championship with numerous people posing the question
as to whether Judd can go on and complete the Triple Crown with immediate
effect. While spectators like to use the Masters as a barometer for form ahead
of the Crucible, the last time that a player did actually go on to win in
Sheffield after victory in London is Mark Williams back in 2003.
This doesn’t mean Judd can’t do it, of course but it should be
a reminder that Trump’s win is no guarantee of the floodgates opening for major
wins. In fact, we might have to judge over a longer period of four to five
years of whether this Masters win will prove a catalyst for Judd, in which he
can add a handful more to his collection in the next few years ahead, rather
than it translating to immediate success.
That said, Judd looked ready to win the World Championship
last year. His narrow 13-12 defeat to John Higgins in the quarter-finals was
despite the result a performance which showed he had matured and was getting
closer to achieving the game’s holy grail. This Masters win solidifies this.
Judd can be very proud of his work at Alexandra Palace. He
looked to have that extra bit of fire in the belly you need to win the big
titles and despite taking early leads in all his matches proved that he could
stand up to the pressure of the winning line when it came within sight and his
opponents tried to hook him back in.
There were spells when Trump looked at his free-flowing best
in this event but there were also plenty of moments where he was forced to get
the job done when he wasn’t in top form and this proved pivotal.
His newfound partnership on the practice table with his brother
Jack seems to have resulted in him spending many more hours each week putting
the work in and to earn direct results off the back of this will probably mean
it continues.
His fierce rivalry with Kyren Wilson and drawing him in
round one of this tournament no doubt played a big part too. After a mini run
of defeats to Kyren, he was desperate to reverse that here and as a result came
into the event firing on all cylinders.
Wherever the motivation and drive comes from, it doesn’t
matter. For Judd now, the challenge is to put his foot down and go into his 30s
looking to achieve as much as he can out of his outstanding potential.
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