World Snooker Championship 2019 final: Judd Trump finishes off John Higgins in style to clinch first title
Judd Trump beat John Higgins 18-9 in one of the greatest displays ever seen in a Crucible final
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Your support makes all the difference.Judd Trump is scratching his chin. He is deep into the Monday afternoon session of the World Championship final, leading John Higgins 15-8, and he’s lost position after potting a red. The cue ball is lodged against the brown, leaving him with a choice: take on a difficult yellow to keep the break alive, or play a simple snooker and sit back down.
As he stands on the Crucible floor surveying the table, he is unrecognisable from the 21-year-old who lost here in 2011 in his only other world final appearance, and not just because he has lost the McFly haircut; Trump has been on a journey honing his precocious talent, and along the way he has transformed himself from impulsive shot-maker to master strategist.
That journey has taken too long in some people’s eyes. Watching from a glass box in one corner of the room, the seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry is so impressed he’s almost disgusted. “He’s probably wondering what he could have achieved if he’d knuckled down sooner,” Hendry remarks.
On the table, Trump makes a decision: he rolls the white gently against the yellow so that its view of the table is entirely blocked, and walks back to his seat.
Trump has needed time to learn the limits of his game and to recalibrate the balance between risk and reward. Last year he employed his younger brother Jack to work with him full-time on his tactical game. “Jack’s making me work on things I wouldn’t have done myself,” Trump said in January, after crushing Ronnie O’Sullivan to win the Masters. “I wanted to pot balls all day, but he will put safety and long pots up too. I do as I’m told and he’s getting the best out of me.”
His snooker behind the yellow doesn’t work out. Higgins somehow finds a three-cushion escape, then clears up with a stunning 70 break. Yet it demonstrated just how his decision making has changed: like a poker game, making the percentage choice doesn’t always produce a winning hand, but keep doing it over time and your luck will turn. The old Trump might have been deterred, even annoyed, but here he kept playing the same way, winning the next frame to head into Monday evening 16-9 in front.
Trump came back later and produced two more heavy scores to finally become a world champion, aged 29, with one of the most comprehensive final victories of all time played at perhaps the highest standard the game has seen. Eight long years, but better late than never.
This final had really been won the night before, of course. Level at 4-4 heading into Sunday evening, Trump produced a devastating spell, taking seven of the eight frames, most of them in one visit, with an array of powerful long pots and even some showboating, at one point playing the black with the cue behind his back. It was enthralling for those lucky enough to be in the Crucible – including his opponent.
“It was just amazing to watch,” a dazed Higgins said afterwards. “He just blew me away, pure and simple. It just shows you how talented he is. His action is not textbook, but he’s so talented he can play like that. He was just brilliant to watch. I don’t think there’s ever been anybody quite like him.”
Trump finished the match with seven centuries – a new record for any match in history. Higgins played brilliantly himself, and against any other opponent he might have been the one lifting the trophy, but instead he was rolling out his runner-up speech for the third year in a row. “This was not as tough to take as the previous two – I’ve basically forgot about it already because he was just too good.”
Even Trump was taken aback by his performance, and admitted he will struggle to recreate it. “It will be hard to top, if ever. Everything I seemed to go for seemed to go in. The concentration was there, to constantly do it in one visit. My brother’s help this season is there for all to see – the Masters and now the World Championships. It’s a dream come true.”
Higgins will take some time off before returning to the practice tables in the summer. He has reached eight finals now but losing three in a row has taken a toll, and he admitted he might might never win that elusive fifth crown. “All I can do is keep trying,” he said.
For Trump, it is a life ambition realised. He has been told he would one day be a world champion ever since he was 14 years old; the pressure to deliver on his unfathomable talent has finally been released.
His next task is to decide what to do with the winning prize of £500,000. “I don’t know,” he said. “When it hits my bank account I might go a bit wild.”
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