Judd Trump feels snooker’s powerbrokers should investigate the notion of introducing a shot clock at certain events. Former UK Championship winner and current world number three Trump admitted to feeling ‘drained’ during his Scottish Open defeat to eventual tournament runner-up Cao Yupeng in Glasgow last week.
The Chinese star, ranked 67th in the world, was often very deliberate in his play and his rhythm was not in keeping with Trump, known for his blend of attacking power play. A shot clock has been deployed in the Premier League in the past, while the Snooker Shootout has brought speed-snooker to the masses in recent times. While Trump is not calling for every tournament to have time constraints, he does believe more should be done to speed the game up in order to make the product more entertaining for audiences. “I think a shot clock should be looked at for some tournaments, not every tournament obviously because people are going to enjoy his style of play. It was just hard to watch,” said the Englishman.
Trump believes some of snooker’s slower players are seeking to gain an advantage tactically. “I can’t see why anyone would want to play slow. You can’t not be seeing the shots. I think some people prefer to play slow to put off their opponents rather than just get on with it,” he added. “It has obviously worked for [Cao]. People judge that we need shot clocks. I don’t know what it was like for people to watch, but I felt it was a bit draining.” Trump is 6/1 to win the Dafabet Masters at Alexandra Palace in January, while world number one Mark Selby is 11/2.
German Masters Qualifiers odds available at Dafabet.