Judd Trump ‘quietly confident’ about World Snooker Championship 2023 chances – ‘No one expects me to win’

Judd Trump says he is “quietly confident” about his chances at this year’s World Snooker Championship after stating “no one” expects him to win.

Trump won the Masters and reached the final of the World Grand Prix in January, but admitted he was winning matches with his B-game.

He has failed to go beyond the quarter-finals of the other ranking tournaments this season and missed the cut to qualify for the Tour Championship as he was 12th on the one-year ranking list.

However, the former world No. 1 told Eurosport: “I’ve been practicing well, as I’m sure everybody has. I know when the form is there or thereabouts and I feel quietly confident.

“It’s nice to be going under the radar. There’s no pressure on me. Everything is on Ronnie (O’Sullivan) and Shaun Murphy – a lot of expectations.

“No one expects me to win and that’s normally when I play my best.”

He added: “The tournaments I want to do well in and want to play in are the ones that I enjoy being at – I feel like I’ve played pretty good.

“The other ones I’ve struggled with a little, with motivation and that kind of thing. I’m going through a spell of wanting to really play well in the good ones [events] and struggling in the more remote venues.

“When I come to the World Championship, same with the Masters, I can’t wait to get out there. There’s a lot of good memories and I feel like my record here has been exceptional, so there’s a lot of belief.”

Trump, who was runner-up to Ronnie O’Sullivan at the Crucible last year, will have not played competitively for four weeks when he faces Anthony McGill on Tuesday.

The 33-year-old thinks the time off could favour him, especially due to the long format at the World Championship, which he won in 2019.

“I feel like I needed a break, so it was nice to have a few days off, get away and feel refreshed coming into this event,” he said.

“It’s such a long slog so you don’t want to come in tired. I’ve had some good practice over the last 10 days and now I’m just excited and ready to go.”

Trump had a nervy 13-11 victory over McGill in the second round of the World Championship last year but has only been beaten once by the Scotsman in his career.

“There’s not really anyone you don’t want to play,” said Trump. “I enjoy playing the best players, it makes my job a lot easier. I enjoy playing [John] Higgins, [Mark] Williams, Ronnie.

“People know how good Anthony is – he’s easily good enough to be a top-16 player. Last year I played him in the latter stages and this year it’s the first round.

“If I go on to beat him, then I will be full of confidence for the rest of the tournament. I would rather win it with a hard draw because it gives a big sense of achievement.”

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