Trump Prepared For Shanghai Test
Trump lost an epic final against Kyren Wilson in Shanghai last year
Judd Trump hopes his strategy of focussing on the biggest events will pay off as he looks ahead to next week’s Shanghai Masters.
Trump has played in just two of the five tournaments so far this season but believes that will keep him sharper for his targeted events.
“It’s early in the season but we’ve got a busy period ahead now,” the world number four told BBC Radio Bristol. “I have been knuckling down in practice and trying not to be outside in the sun while the weather has been good.
“I have skipped a few smaller events in order to prepare for the bigger ones and make sure I have that motivation which I have struggled with in the past. It’s going to be a different approach for me over the next couple of seasons so we’ll see how that goes.
“I’ve been around for a long time already but in snooker terms I’m still very young. Over the next five or ten years I’ll be giving it my best shot. I’m practising a lot more now than I did in the past.”
Bristol’s 27-year-old Trump faces Ben Woollaston in his opening match in Shanghai on Wednesday. He played Kyren Wilson in the final last year but finished on the wrong end of the 10-9 scoreline, just as he did in 2012 against John Higgins.
“I always enjoy Shanghai, it’s one of the best cities we go to,” added Trump, who won the China Open in Beijing earlier this year. “I’ve got a mixed record there but I did well last year so hopefully I’ll do the same this time.”
Earlier this week, former UK Champion Trump was named as a new ambassador for World Snooker’s official charity partner, Jessie May Children’s Hospice At Home. He said: “It’s a charity close to me because they are Bristol-based so I felt it would be nice to get involved with them and help out where possible.”
Watch the Shanghai Masters on Eurosport, for more details click here.