By Elliott West
Introduction
So we have reached another snooker final, this time the Champion of Champions in Bolton, a tournament that oozes class and is definitely one of the highlights of the snooker season. The final will see two players that are currently at the top of their form, Judd Trump and Ronnie O’Sullivan slug it out for the title. Judd the reigning champion and Ronnie who has won this tournament on three previous occasions. Both players breezed through their semi-final matches, beating Mark Selby 6-3 and Fan Zhengyi 6-2 respectively. This is a classic showdown in a city that produced the snooker legend, Tony Knowles.
This clash is unique, primarily because Trump is one of the few players on the main tour that doesn’t fear O’Sullivan. Judd has a good record of wins against this snooker maverick and this will be Ronnie’s sixth final in the ten years since the Champion of Champions returned to the snooker calendar. Judd last beat Ronnie in the semi-final of the 2020 World Grand Prix, winning the match in impressive style 6-1 and of course lost in the epic World Championship final 18-13 to a classy performance by O’Sullivan.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Both these players have blemishes in their armour, Judd suffers on occasion from self-confidence issues and Ronnie can be known to not play at his best when it comes to the final crunch. Ronnie has put it on record that he hates the constant chanting of his name by die-hard audience members. Meant well but was highly off-putting, especially when faced with the enhanced tension that these showdowns produce. Similarly, Judd has been known to lose focus and start missing pots that he would never miss in a month of Sundays normally.
These two love watching each other play snooker. They can both turn on the tap of flair at a moment’s notice and have an added bonus in their game, they can both play left-handed when needed. Trump hasn’t frankly been playing well this season but seems to have sprung into life in this tournament despite Ronnie saying previously that he has fallen out of love with snooker, he was inspired by the brilliant atmosphere of the recent Hong Kong Masters that drew in an audience of 9,000 snooker fans for the final and gave him a 6-4 victory over a reinvigorated local hero, Marco Fu in the final.
A Snooker Masterclass
O’Sullivan is prone to trying to fan the fire of his brilliance and once again put himself down after his clash with Fan. Ronnie felt that he didn’t play well and his Chinese opponent made him look good. Despite this put-down, anyone who watched this match would have witnessed the sheer class of the man nicknamed the ‘Rocket’. His sheer power of scoring was overwhelming and he punished every mistake that Fan made. A performance that Stephen Hendry commented on, saying:
“He was in a different league to his opponent tonight”.
Stephen Hendry
Similarly, Judd blew Mark Selby out of the water. It was a flowing snooker that was focused and accomplished the aims of being highly entertaining, and powerful and laying that killer punch to get the job done. Selby played well throughout the tournament but on this occasion, Trump was a cut above him. Judd ran rings around him and spun a web that left Mark entangled and unable to produce a winning performance. This was a match that would be difficult for any player at their best to overcome, especially when Judd is playing his A+ game. He was on fire and enthused!
A Fusion of Snooker Minds
Whatever the result in this Champion of Champions final, we are definitely in for a snooker treat. These sublime clashes don’t happen in snooker very often these days, especially in recent years as most of the eventual winners have come out of nowhere. Sometimes it is nice to just have a final of two heavyweights, reminiscent of the 1980s and 1990s when Davis and Hendry ruled the roost with an iron fist. Those days have long gone and no player can be guaranteed a final place or a constant conveyor belt of trophies. Testing times but times that both Judd and Ronnie savour.
