Trump aims at O’Sullivan Crucible tally

Judd Trump has set his sights on matching Ronnie O’Sullivan’s haul of four world titles. And the 23-year-old yesterday fired a warning to his green baize rivals by claiming he has reached No 1 in the world by playing to barely 70 per cent of his potential.

Trump begins the defence of his williamhill.com UK Championship title in York his weekend with O’Sullivan absent for the rest of the season, taking a break from snooker which could become permanent.

Another UK title would 
underline Trump’s status as 
favourite to succeed O’Sullivan as world champion in May. Trump came closest to triumphing in Sheffield as a qualifier 2011 when he reached the final but lost to John Higgins.

“There’s a lot of people saying: ‘You’ve never won a World Championship’, but you’ve got to look at Ronnie and see the talent he had and it proves how hard it is,” Trump said.

“If Ronnie didn’t win it until 25, I’ve still got two to three years to keep up with Ronnie.

“I feel like I’ve still got a 
little bit of improving to do. I’m showing 70-75 per cent of what 
I can produce.”