Judd Trump has rare trait held by Ronnie O’Sullivan, says Shaun Murphy

By reaching the semi-finals of the Wuhan Open last week, Trump maintained the stunning record of at least the quarters this year and Murphy is blown away by the consistency at the highest level.

‘Ridiculous. Someone needs to remind Judd that snooker is actually quite difficult,” Murphy said. Metro of Trump.

“I said after our match in Saudi Arabia, I think it’s his ability to keep scoring. Aside from the fact that we always talk about the fact that he is now a complete player, it’s his pure ability to continue. It’s truly incredible.

“You’ll be sitting in your chair thinking he’s going to miss and another 40 points will be added to his score and you’re not really sure what happened. He’s just phenomenal, a phenomenon.

“He’s in that category of player that when you get to an event weekend of course he’s always going to be in the draw, it’s a shock when he’s not.”

While Trump clearly displays a superb level of quality, Murphy believes that even if he is not at his best, he will win a lot of matches because the majority of players no longer believe they can beat him.

“He has that intimidation factor now, he has it with most players,” the magician said. “Most players are beaten before they face him.

“With his style you always have a chance to win because he plays aggressively, but most players have that chance and they can’t bring themselves to beat him.

“Only a few players in the history of the game have had that, it’s like a 12th man. The guy you play as doesn’t think he can beat you. Only a handful of players have reached that status in the game.

“A lot of rookies come on the tour and it’s a bit like if I was with Steve Davis, they had a picture of Ronnie O’Sullivan on their wall. He’s their idol and they’re nervous about being in the same room as him, let alone having to try to beat him. I found it difficult with Steve Davis because he was my idol.

For more stories like this, check out our sports page.