Judd Trump has boldly claimed that his rival Ronnie O'Sullivan has lost his fear factor. O'Sullivan was due to start the defence of his Masters title on Sunday but has withdrawn from the tournament.
The 35-year-old 'Ace in the Pack', who has triumphed in three significant tournaments this season, including last month's UK Championship victory, is nearing a historic earnings milestone.
Currently sitting on a whopping £1.2 million in winnings this term, Trump could soon shatter O'Sullivan's previous season record by surpassing the £2million mark.
While Trump soars at the snooker table, O'Sullivan has appeared less formidable, even conceding that his reign among the elite was "over" earlier this season.
"He maybe doesn’t have the same intimidating factor that he had," Trump stated ahead of his Masters hat-trick attempt against Barry Hawkins.
"A lot more players are able to beat him. He’s not able to put in the consistency that he had. Now, people can bring their best game against him, something they couldn't do before.
"Ronnie, for me, has never been an absolutely incredible player who blows you away, he just had this intimidation that no other player had."
According to Trump, O’Sullivan’s ability to disrupt opponents' performance may be waning: "He doesn’t allow you to play your best. Maybe that’s starting to slip."
Trump further noted that up-and-coming talents, especially the young Chinese players, show no reverence for reputations.
He continued: "You see a lot of his results in China and some of these young Chinese players don’t care who you are anymore and they’re able to play their best against him."
Trump speculates that O’Sullivan, who faces off against John Higgins in a tantalising bout on Sunday, is eager to conclude his trophy-laden career on an ultimate high.
The Rocket trumped Trump in the 2022 Crucible final, firmly establishing himself as snooker's undisputed king by equalling Stephen Hendry’s haul of seven world titles.

O’Sullivan’s remarkable resume includes the most major Triple Crown victories (23), highest number of ranking titles (41), nearing 1,200 century breaks, and the maximum 147s tally.
He uniquely holds the record as both the youngest and oldest champion of the UK Championship and Masters, with an elusive eighth Crucible title being the final frontier for him.
And Trump remarked: "He’s someone, from what I can tell, he probably wants to have one big last hurrah and get out of here. To be honest, it could be any point where one more World Championship and he calls it a day.
"You’re probably looking at the last five years of knuckling down and going for it. I think because Ronnie’s starting to miss more events, people realise they might not see him for too much longer.
"They probably feel they need to appreciate what they’ve taken for granted for the last 20 or 30 years. When he’s missing in an event everyone notices. The world will always move on, there will always be more players coming through."
"But I think everyone realises that we’re at a point where we won’t see him many more times in the big events like the World Championship."

因果颠倒，难不成英国也没有逻辑课

这样说自己的偶像好吗？你也有那天，别忘了老火在你小时候搂着你照过像的，你这孩子，这赛季牛逼了就这么说自己的偶像，看来你从来没有把他当过你真正的偶像，22年世锦赛的赛后你的话现在看起来很虚伪啊！

好像大家都挺热衷于对小特的采访做阅读理解，是小特采访特别多吗。
挺认同楼里一位朋友说的，有时候球员采访说的未必都是心里话，没必要太当真了。

如果小特真说了，那他是真飘了！他还不够格，如果是皇帝说的那另当别论，同样35岁的成绩，七五三杰随便哪个出来都吊打你，虽然我不是独火箭粉，但我是75三杰粉，议论前辈这么不客气的麽，人家头衔可是大师，从戴维斯，亨得利，再到四大天王时代，然后塞尔比那几年的统治，你连前一堵墙都没打穿呢就想凿后墙？

他行云流水 天马行空的破局能力你小特只能仰望

老外骨子里就是这样，有时候说话跟个小孩子一样，虽然不喜欢火箭，我心里他就是斯诺克天花板，要是丁俊晖以后老了，斯佳辉，吴宜泽，赵心童他们不会对丁说这样的话，每个人都会老，都会有这一天，有点脑子的只会尊重老将，为啥人家有那么大的气场和威慑 还不是人家实力强大到让人害怕

感觉火箭快要退役了 这么自负的人 不能容忍自己老是输球的吧 希望还能再坚持

真的是最近说的吗，记得前两年他这么说火箭，一下就把火箭的斗志激发出来了，希望这次也打下他连，

小特试图叫醒火箭

你现在的竞技水平不同于七八十年代，现在的竞技水平越来越高，你拿世锦赛冠军的概率也就越来越低，再加上世锦赛长局制对手有足够的时间来调整，你想要打败他没这么容易，就算你前期获得了巨大的优势又怎么样，人家后期调整好心态，稳扎稳打，把时间给拖久了，把你的状态给磨没了，人家的机会就来了，人家就会靠着这个机会奋起直追打平比分，甚至超过，真的没这么容易，就连最靠近火箭的特鲁姆普现在30多岁了，也就拿了一个世锦赛冠军，你别看他排名赛大放异彩，其实排名赛短局制，人家前期只要状态好，就能一波把对手送走，这也就是为什么特鲁姆普现在三大赛冠军数量只有5个的原因

火箭还是这颗星球上最强的斯诺克球员