Judd Trump is expected to be dethroned as snooker's world number one following the cancellation of the Saudi Snooker Masters, a high-stakes event he won in 2024. The World Snooker Tour (WST) confirmed earlier this year that the tournament, which offered a maximum prize of £500,000, would be removed from the calendar.
Rankings at Risk
Trump's victory in the inaugural Saudi event two years ago contributed significantly to his ranking points. With the event scrapped, those points will expire, and he is projected to slip down the rankings, potentially losing the top spot after the Wuhan Open concludes in the coming weeks.
Last year's world champion Zhao Xintong and Triple Crown winner Neil Robertson are poised to capitalize, especially if they perform well at the newly-introduced China Open and in Wuhan, while Trump misses out on ranking points.
Shanghai Masters Victory
Trump recently defeated Kyren Wilson to win the Shanghai Masters, securing a £210,000 prize. However, as an invitational event, it offered no ranking points, leaving Trump vulnerable to being overtaken.
Trump has held the number one ranking since the summer of 2024, but his two-year reign appears set to end. Reflecting on his Shanghai win, he said: "It was a good win, a tough game compared to the other ones. The table played a bit more difficult in the final, and that’s why the standard wasn’t quite as good. Kyren has beaten me in the last few finals, so it was nice to start the season in that kind of manner and get one over him."
He added: "You want to show that you’re still the best in the world and it’s important to be winning big events like this. It has been three months since I played anyone. It was a little bit of the unknown. It will be tricky with Saudi no longer being on the calendar, which I won two years ago. The points are coming off. It’ll be an uphill struggle to keep the number one spot but hopefully come the end of the year, in the mid-season, I’ll make sure I am back there."
Trump acknowledged the significance of his Shanghai triumph: "I love being number one, but if you are going to drop down the rankings a bit, it’s always nice to win the Shanghai Masters. The last time I won in Shanghai I had a great season after that. And it was important I got off to a great start here."
