Romford-based Judd Trump says he will take plenty of positives from his Dafabet Champion of Champions final defeat to defending title holder Ronnie O’Sullivan.
The 25-year-old Trump, who trains regularly at Groves Snooker Academy in Ashton Road, went down 10-7 against ‘The Rocket’ at the Ricoh Arena last Sunday.
It looked very much that O’Sullivan, the five-time world champion from Chigwell, was on his way to securing a comfortable victory, but Bristol-born Trump clawed his way back from 8-3 down to win four successive frames, with back-to-back centuries.
However O’Sullivan, the current world number four, claimed the two frames he required to claim the £100,000 top prize with breaks of 63 and 109.
Trump, who qualified for the event by winning the Championship League and Australian Open, defeated Stephen Macguire, current world champion Mark Selby and fellow Grove Academy professional Australian Neil Robertson en route to the final.
“It was a good game, I really enjoyed it,” said Trump, who is currently ranked number 11 in the world.
“It was probably one of the only games where I am not really too disappointed about losing.
“100 per cent I would have won if it was against anyone else, I would have won comfortably.
“For me, that is what the game is all about, getting that sort of opponent to bring you on and in other sports there is that kind of rivalry and I think I need Ronnie to push myself to the next level.
“I knew I was playing okay at 8-3 down but it just wasn’t going right for me. Then he missed one or two and that was it, I got a bit of confidence and momentum, got back into the game and then even at 8-7 I nearly nicked that frame and that would have been a big frame.
“The way he shut out the match was just typical Ronnie.
“I showed a lot of maturity this week. At times I wasn’t playing great stuff, but I just stuck in there, which I probably wouldn’t have done a few seasons ago.
“The way I came back under pressure, there is a lot to take and a lot to look forward to.”
