Judd Trump became the fifth player in snooker history – and first for a decade – to win three consecutive ranking titles as he crushed Chris Wakelin 9-3 in the final of the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open in Belfast.
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From 2-1 down, Trump confirmed his status as the best player on the planet on current form as he won eight of the last nine frames with three centuries and four more breaks over 50 to take the £80,000 top prize and the Alex Higgins Trophy.
In an extraordinary October, Trump has also captured the BetVictor English Open and Wuhan Open titles, a winning streak of 20 consecutive matches which has earned him £300,000. The only other players to have landed three ranking titles on the spin are Ray Reardon, Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and most recently in 2013, Ding Junhui. It’s his fourth Northern Ireland Open crown having taken the top prize in 2018, 2019 and 2020, and he extends the sequence of exclusively left-handed winners since this event was first staged in 2016.
Bristol’s 34-year-old Trump moves on to 26 career ranking titles, ahead of Mark Williams and behind only Ronnie O’Sullivan (39), Hendry (36), John Higgins (31) and Davis (28). He extends his lead at the top of the one-year rankings and BetVictor Series list, and though he remains third in the official rankings, he closes the gap on leader O’Sullivan to just £10,000. He will go to the International Championship in China in early November with his sights on the top spot, and the chance to become the second player to win four straight ranking titles, chasing Hendry’s record of five in a row set in 1990.
Wakelin, playing the biggest match of his life, started strongly and led 2-1, but then could do little to stop an outstanding opponent at the top of his game. Nuneaton’s Wakelin missed the chance to double his tally of ranking titles having landed the BetVictor Shoot Out in January. Still, the 31-year-old has made huge strides forward in his career this year and the £35,000 runner-up cheque lifts him to 21st in the world rankings.
Trump did most of the damage in the opening session, taking a 6-2 lead. A packed house at the Waterfront Hall may have hoped for a Wakelin fight back, but instead they were treated to a Trump potting masterclass as he fired runs of 101 and 125 to extend the advantage to 8-2.
He had first chance in frame 11 but ran out of position at 31-0. Wakelin responded with 52, then got the better of a safety exchange and added the points he needed for 8-3. But the underdog couldn’t bring the contest to a mid-session interval as Trump stroked in a long red to initiate a match-winning 129, bringing cheers from the crowd as he finished with a series of exhibition shots.
“Things have happened so fast over the last three weeks, it feels surreal now and it has not sunk in,” said 2019 World Champion Trump. “The last session tonight was the best I have felt in the whole 20-match run, I felt really sharp. Once I get in front I can relax, play my best and over-power my opponents. When you are playing well, people miss at the right times, you scrape through in deciders and live to fight another day. Mentally I have been in a good place when the chances come up.
“You have to remember how many tight games I have won. I could have lost all of them, they are often a 50-50 shoot out. The margins are so fine in snooker and when it’s your time you have to take advantage.
“I’ve had a lot of tournament wins within the last five years. There have still been people saying I have not been playing well, maybe because they expect more from me. It’s the same with Jack Lisowski, I suppose we make the game look easy sometimes that people expect even more. But it’s not that easy.
“Chris has improved a lot and scores heavily, he looks more confident on the shot. He works on his weaknesses, which a lot of players don’t. That has really helped him and it’s nice to see someone out there with a smile on his face in such a great arena.”
Wakelin said: “It has been magical for me. Winning the Shoot Out was phenomenal, but to get to the final of an event like this, with such a great crowd was amazing. If I could pick anyone to play in the final it would be Judd. One day I’ve got to beat him, I think he has paid off his mortgage just from matches against me.
“When I was 2-1 up I thought ‘here we go, I’ve got this in the bag!’ But Judd has won the last three tournaments, he is one of the best players ever to play the game and I hope he keeps that going for the rest of the season. This time last year I was in a bad place but the last 12 months have been great for me, on and off the table. To have the privilege to play in this arena tonight was fantastic.”
Congratulations Judd Trump!
There is no doubts that Judd Trump is the best player – and the form player – at this moment in time. Such success can only come through hard work and the right attitude, on top of natural talent. Judd will be the first to tell you how much his brother Jack has contributed to his current success, by his presence and the positive influence he’s had when it comes to Judd’s attitude and mental state.
The “statisticians”1 are out in force speculating on if and when Judd will beat “the records”, a number of which belong to Ronnie. If he can keep this form into his late 40th, he will almost certainly beat most, maybe all, of those records. Judd however said a few interesting things in the studio this week. Notably he said that he had/has nobody in his generation able to challenge him. Actually, he could have had Ding as a fierce challenger but somehow Ding fizzled out, which is sad to see. Asked who his biggest rival is, he nodded to Ronnie and added that the “Class of 92” remained his biggest challengers. Not Mark Allen, who is not that much older than him, not Mark Selby or Neil Robertson … no … he named three players who are 13 or 14 years older than him, three players whose combined statistics are absolutely extraordinary and who are still competitive. That’s the biggest compliment anyone could give to the “Class of 92”.
Statistics are only meaningful when kept in context. Here are a few examples to illustrate what I mean.
Steve Davis has won 28 ranking titles. He’s won the UK Championship 6 times, but only 4 of these UK titles were “ranking”. For a long period of time, only the World championship was ranking.
When the “Class of 92” were Judd’s age, at the start of the millennium, there were only about 6 or 7 ranking events each season. in the years pre-Covid there were about 18 -20 of them. This years we have 16 ranking events. You can only play in and win what is available to you.
Tournament statuses change over time. As mentioned above, the UK Championship wasn’t ranking for the first seven years of its existence. The Shanghai Masters used to be ranking, but isn’t anymore.
Or this stats, kept on snooker.org. Ronnie has the same win % as Hawkins and Selby BUT Hawkins has played 27 matches, Selby 18, Ronnie only 9.
I’m not trying to belittle anyone’s achievements, let alone Judd Trump’s achievements. He’s currently the best out there. It’s just that I’m a mathematician and as such I can’t help to cringe at the way some – including pundits and commentators – read and use statistics.
24 thoughts on “Judd Trump is the 2023 NI Open Champion”
he might get some records but he will never ever get 21 triple crowns and everyone knows that…he is a great guy tho
I agree. When he was younger he got a bit big headed, but now that he’s matured he’s quite likeable. And 21 triple crowns looks a lot to achieve indeed as he already 34.
If it makes anyone feel any better, Ronnie still has a (slightly) higher match-win percentage this season than Judd.
Ronnie: 84.62%
Judd: 84.21%
That’s why he’s still #1!
When the “Class of 92” were Judd’s age, at the start of the millennium …
With about 13 years in age difference, wouldn’t that be 2010?
I found the finale less than fully enjoyable. Sure, yesterday’s version of Trump was the best I’ve seen in years. Yet, Wakelin seems to have under-performed compared to what I’ve seen of him, and badly. So, except for the early frames it wasn’t a real match.
There was this signature moment in frame #7, when Wakelin was in a break at 53, and next up he had a slightly iffy but doable black along the cushion. He didn’t even try. Instead he played a completely uninspired safety shot, starting a safety battle he quickly lost, along with the frame.
That’s when I knew – suspected, at least – Wakelin had already given up. I’m pretty sure Trump knew it, too, and during the parts I could watch he hardly missed a ball for the remainder of the match. So, congrats to him! Let’s hope for talents galore inspired by the performance, and quickly catching up so as to make it a match, rather than an execution.
I’m not sure he had “given up”, not consciously anyway. That’s where confidence comes into play, and mindset. Ronnie was often criticised for taking a difficult shot and missing it, giving his opponent the opportunity they needed. His reaction to criticism was always: “I saw a chance, I tried to take it.”. It doesn’t always work, but that’s what champions do. Chris Wakelin isn’t to that stage yet.
I can go along with all of the above.
Otherwise, I have to confess I don’t care whose is the biggest, and am completely unconcerned with statistics, and exceptionally wary of statistics concerning the future.
It is all, I think, part of the celebrification of everything. At its root, it’s a marketing trick: How do you get folks to crowd in to arenas, to pay for streaming? You offer them hyped-up personalities to identify with and to obsess over, to gawk at, and to bet on(!). Any understanding of the sports (arts, even sciences, politics etc.) is superfluous. That grabs folks’ attention, substantially increases the possible size of the audience, and therefore increases revenues.
That’s how we get intellectually vacuous clowns selected into high office, pop scientists and quacks dominating the airwaves, and that’s also how we get to gawk at players’ mugs, as opposed to following the match. Betting outfits are grateful, because mass attraction is centered around personalities, “the drama”, whose is the biggest, as opposed to shot selection, smart strategy, precision, and professionalism.
Just because who else would be nitpicking than yours truly? 🤔😁Yes, it’s a nice nod to Ronnie/class 92 that they are Trump’s real competition, but it’s not too respectful to his contemporaries (the current world champion anyone?). Having said that yes a nod to professionalism (can you see me bending over backwards?😏) and a notable absence of Trump from these controversial exhibitions and the surrounding dispute.
But interestingly someone, who is actually find of Trump, however difficult I find it to imagine, said that all the partying which many blamed for Trump’s dip in form, were actually due to Jack himself (thus questioning Jack’s unequivocally positive influence).
On another note I care little for records, the only one I really want Ronnie to keep is the World Championship (if he could add an 8th, it would be heavenly) and the two other triple crowns.
On another note I forgot about but wanted to tell you, Csilla: Your post a few weeks ago “I can’t tell the cleanliness of the British venues from the screen” is the post of the year on here for me. 🙂 🙂
* Sorry, of the Chinese venue that was. I think you did talk about Wuhan back then…
I went to Shanghai in 2013, and to Yixing which was an APTC. Both venues were very clean. Streets and parks actually were much cleaner than what I recently saw in the UK. Food in Yixing was not great for us Europeans, mainly rice with a bit on the side. That was the only low point.
** … about the cleanliness of the toilets it was… sorry, I forgot about the exact wording, but anyway it made my day. 🙂
Yes, thank you, I think it was about Wuhan – or rather about the comparison. 🙂
Yes, I think it was about Wuhan, or rather about the comparison. Thanks. 🙂
it never occurs to you that all the Trump hate is a bit delusional?
How do you survive this season, Csilla? 🙂
Thanks for the concern. 😁 I pretend its not happening. More free time for sure. 😏
If you wouldn’t be able to stream selected matches, this season would be non-existent for you. 🙂 And I agree absolutely with you on your last paragraph btw.
I already cancelled Eurosport, although not because of Trump LOL, but because it was unavailable in Britain during the British Open, because it was broadcast by ITV. But ITV only showed the TV table, while there were so many interesting matches shown by Eurosport, but not available here, so I got really angry that then I don’t need to spend my money on it. So I really rely on streams now unless a good reason to resubscribe presents itself.
I don’t understand that decision Csilla. Other than the ITV events, Either BBC or Eurosport show everything in the the UK. And they show all tables. ES are the only ones showing events in mainland Europe or Asia.
I might reconsider, but I was pretty angry I pay all this money and still don’t have access to it, because of ITV. They have some monthly subscription, so no need to pay for it when BBC covers or ITV usurps events. Or if the streams are good.
“Lies, damn lies and statistics” springs to mind!
To be honest, the constant churning out of, mostly meaningless, stats during match commentary are what has led me to prefer the ‘Ambient Sound’ option on Discovery+
What’s really behind the “lies, damned lies…” quote is that so few people have any understanding whatsoever of statistics, that there’s a huge amount of confusion about what it all means.
The notion of “ranking tournaments” is a huge problem, as there is such a difference in the number of tournaments held over the time period. We were hearing that Ray Reardon was the first player to win 3 consecutive ranking tournaments. Indeed, he won the World Championship 1973-76, 4 times in a row. But of course each was separated by a whole year, and it’s not even clear that ‘rankings’ existed in 1973!
What the commentators (and fans on social media) have done is to define a ‘modern era’, conveniently covering our own lifespan, in order to award our heroes with all-time records.
On this basis in 50 years from now, post-Crucible and with a completely different tournament structure and ranking system, people then will define their own ‘modern era’, and all the achievements of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Stephen Hendry, Joe Davis etc., will be swept away!
Lewis – couldn’t agree with you more. “Ranking tournaments won” is a completely daft statistic to compare greatness across eras. Even worse, in some ways, is “centuries made”. There are so many more frames now in which players can make those centuries. And, in any case, a century in these days of fast cloths, responsive balls, and heated tables (etc, etc) is not the same achievement as a century 40 or 50 years ago.
Yes, techniques and overall standards have improved, but “centuries made” isn’t the way to measure or understand this.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
he might get some records but he will never ever get 21 triple crowns and everyone knows that…he is a great guy tho
I agree. When he was younger he got a bit big headed, but now that he’s matured he’s quite likeable. And 21 triple crowns looks a lot to achieve indeed as he already 34.
If it makes anyone feel any better, Ronnie still has a (slightly) higher match-win percentage this season than Judd.
Ronnie: 84.62%
Judd: 84.21%
That’s why he’s still #1!
With about 13 years in age difference, wouldn’t that be 2010?
I found the finale less than fully enjoyable. Sure, yesterday’s version of Trump was the best I’ve seen in years. Yet, Wakelin seems to have under-performed compared to what I’ve seen of him, and badly. So, except for the early frames it wasn’t a real match.
There was this signature moment in frame #7, when Wakelin was in a break at 53, and next up he had a slightly iffy but doable black along the cushion. He didn’t even try. Instead he played a completely uninspired safety shot, starting a safety battle he quickly lost, along with the frame.
That’s when I knew – suspected, at least – Wakelin had already given up. I’m pretty sure Trump knew it, too, and during the parts I could watch he hardly missed a ball for the remainder of the match. So, congrats to him! Let’s hope for talents galore inspired by the performance, and quickly catching up so as to make it a match, rather than an execution.
I’m not sure he had “given up”, not consciously anyway. That’s where confidence comes into play, and mindset. Ronnie was often criticised for taking a difficult shot and missing it, giving his opponent the opportunity they needed. His reaction to criticism was always: “I saw a chance, I tried to take it.”. It doesn’t always work, but that’s what champions do. Chris Wakelin isn’t to that stage yet.
I can go along with all of the above.
Otherwise, I have to confess I don’t care whose is the biggest, and am completely unconcerned with statistics, and exceptionally wary of statistics concerning the future.
It is all, I think, part of the celebrification of everything. At its root, it’s a marketing trick: How do you get folks to crowd in to arenas, to pay for streaming? You offer them hyped-up personalities to identify with and to obsess over, to gawk at, and to bet on(!). Any understanding of the sports (arts, even sciences, politics etc.) is superfluous. That grabs folks’ attention, substantially increases the possible size of the audience, and therefore increases revenues.
That’s how we get intellectually vacuous clowns selected into high office, pop scientists and quacks dominating the airwaves, and that’s also how we get to gawk at players’ mugs, as opposed to following the match. Betting outfits are grateful, because mass attraction is centered around personalities, “the drama”, whose is the biggest, as opposed to shot selection, smart strategy, precision, and professionalism.
Just because who else would be nitpicking than yours truly? 🤔😁Yes, it’s a nice nod to Ronnie/class 92 that they are Trump’s real competition, but it’s not too respectful to his contemporaries (the current world champion anyone?). Having said that yes a nod to professionalism (can you see me bending over backwards?😏) and a notable absence of Trump from these controversial exhibitions and the surrounding dispute.
But interestingly someone, who is actually find of Trump, however difficult I find it to imagine, said that all the partying which many blamed for Trump’s dip in form, were actually due to Jack himself (thus questioning Jack’s unequivocally positive influence).
On another note I care little for records, the only one I really want Ronnie to keep is the World Championship (if he could add an 8th, it would be heavenly) and the two other triple crowns.
On another note I forgot about but wanted to tell you, Csilla: Your post a few weeks ago “I can’t tell the cleanliness of the British venues from the screen” is the post of the year on here for me. 🙂 🙂
* Sorry, of the Chinese venue that was. I think you did talk about Wuhan back then…
I went to Shanghai in 2013, and to Yixing which was an APTC. Both venues were very clean. Streets and parks actually were much cleaner than what I recently saw in the UK. Food in Yixing was not great for us Europeans, mainly rice with a bit on the side. That was the only low point.
** … about the cleanliness of the toilets it was… sorry, I forgot about the exact wording, but anyway it made my day. 🙂
Yes, thank you, I think it was about Wuhan – or rather about the comparison. 🙂
Yes, I think it was about Wuhan, or rather about the comparison. Thanks. 🙂
it never occurs to you that all the Trump hate is a bit delusional?
How do you survive this season, Csilla? 🙂
Thanks for the concern. 😁 I pretend its not happening. More free time for sure. 😏
If you wouldn’t be able to stream selected matches, this season would be non-existent for you. 🙂 And I agree absolutely with you on your last paragraph btw.
I already cancelled Eurosport, although not because of Trump LOL, but because it was unavailable in Britain during the British Open, because it was broadcast by ITV. But ITV only showed the TV table, while there were so many interesting matches shown by Eurosport, but not available here, so I got really angry that then I don’t need to spend my money on it. So I really rely on streams now unless a good reason to resubscribe presents itself.
I don’t understand that decision Csilla. Other than the ITV events, Either BBC or Eurosport show everything in the the UK. And they show all tables. ES are the only ones showing events in mainland Europe or Asia.
I might reconsider, but I was pretty angry I pay all this money and still don’t have access to it, because of ITV. They have some monthly subscription, so no need to pay for it when BBC covers or ITV usurps events. Or if the streams are good.
“Lies, damn lies and statistics” springs to mind!
To be honest, the constant churning out of, mostly meaningless, stats during match commentary are what has led me to prefer the ‘Ambient Sound’ option on Discovery+
What’s really behind the “lies, damned lies…” quote is that so few people have any understanding whatsoever of statistics, that there’s a huge amount of confusion about what it all means.
The notion of “ranking tournaments” is a huge problem, as there is such a difference in the number of tournaments held over the time period. We were hearing that Ray Reardon was the first player to win 3 consecutive ranking tournaments. Indeed, he won the World Championship 1973-76, 4 times in a row. But of course each was separated by a whole year, and it’s not even clear that ‘rankings’ existed in 1973!
What the commentators (and fans on social media) have done is to define a ‘modern era’, conveniently covering our own lifespan, in order to award our heroes with all-time records.
On this basis in 50 years from now, post-Crucible and with a completely different tournament structure and ranking system, people then will define their own ‘modern era’, and all the achievements of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Stephen Hendry, Joe Davis etc., will be swept away!
Lewis – couldn’t agree with you more. “Ranking tournaments won” is a completely daft statistic to compare greatness across eras. Even worse, in some ways, is “centuries made”. There are so many more frames now in which players can make those centuries. And, in any case, a century in these days of fast cloths, responsive balls, and heated tables (etc, etc) is not the same achievement as a century 40 or 50 years ago.
Yes, techniques and overall standards have improved, but “centuries made” isn’t the way to measure or understand this.