Judd Trump has criticised snooker's ranking system as 'terrible' and 'pointless', arguing that it is too top-heavy and fails to reward consistency, after he was usurped as world number one by Zhao Xintong.
The 37-year-old, who had a two-year spell at the top of the rankings, lost the spot last month when ranking points from the 2024 Saudi Arabia Masters dropped off. The event is no longer on the calendar, meaning Trump could not defend the £500,000 prize he won two years ago.
Trump unfussed by lost prize money
Trump told Metro he was not concerned about the unfortunate situation: 'No, I never really want to moan about that kind of thing with the tournaments not on and stuff. You still have two seasons of other events to retain the place.'
However, he does feel the biggest money events have too much impact on the rankings, which was the Saudi Masters and is now just the World Championship. He believes a points system rather than the current money list would be fairer.
Rankings 'top-heavy' and 'pointless'
'It's just so top-heavy and now there's only one big event, it makes it even worse,' he said. 'You kind of know whoever wins the Worlds, it's pretty much nailed on to be first or second for the next two seasons.
'Obviously I managed to win Saudi, Neil [Robertson] won Saudi, those points are going to come off. It's just a bit of a pointless ranking system, I think.
'It needs to be changed because the Worlds prize money has gone up again this year which makes it even worse [from £500,000 to £625,000].
'It's just terrible. It's not an accurate system and that's taking nothing away from Xintong because he deserves to be number one because he's won other events as well. But I think they need to transfer to points at some point in the next year or two.'
Battle for top spot
Trump is looking to reclaim the world number one spot, in the race alongside world champion Wu Yize, world number two Neil Robertson and recent China Open winner Mark Selby. Robertson won the Saudi Masters last year and both the World Grand Prix and English Open in the previous season, but Trump is not sure he should be in the battle for top spot.
'I think Neil, for example, I don't really know what he's done to be so close, apart from win Saudi, he hasn't really done anything else,' said Trump. 'It's hard to pick individual players out, nothing against Neil but he's not been consistent enough to be the number one, in my eyes. I think Wu Yize, same thing. He won the Worlds but other than that he won one event [International Championship].
'I think Xintong's been the best player consistently, along with probably Mark Selby, I'd say, winning some big events and playing well. So I just think it's a bit unfair.
'I think the world number one deserves to be world number one at the moment but I think there's a chance in the next few months that maybe world number one shouldn't be.'
