Judd Trump admits that his confidence is not what it was as he battles to return to his best form, but feels he is getting close.
The 34-year-old was undoubtedly the best player in the world during the 2019/20 season when he was reigning world champion and won a record six ranking events over the campaign.
It has hardly been disastrous since then, reaching the Crucible final last year and winning the Masters at the start of 2023, but it has certainly proved tougher for Trump to take home trophies over the last couple of seasons.
The Ace is still going deep in events, reaching the European Masters final already this season, but fell short against Barry Hawkins in Nuremberg.
Trump says there is nothing wrong with his game, but it is an elusive bit of belief that he is missing as he bids to return to the top of the mountain.
‘Yeah the game is there, just the confidence isn’t quite, but I’m not a million miles off,’ he told Metro.co.uk at this week’s English Open.
The world number five has only lost three matches so far this season, to Hawkins in Germany, Mark Selby at the Shanghai Masters and surprisingly to Hammad Miah in the opening round of the British Open.
He says that 4-3 defeat to Miah is exactly the kind of thing that is hampering his belief, as close, tricky matches are inevitable, but at his peak he found a way through them.
‘You’ve just got to win more games and get through the tough ones,’ he said on how he can regain confidence. ‘A couple of times this season I’ve already won deciding frames or come back to win.
‘Losing to Hammad in the last one, they’re the ones you want to get through, any time someone has won 3, 4, 5, 6 events in a season they’ve always won the deciders, the close ones and built confidence from there.
‘It’s absolute fractions, the difference between dominating the season and being just another decent performance. Just cut out the little mistakes and really believe under the utmost pressure.’
Trump is dealing with a couple of equipment issues, which isn’t helping his confidence levels, with concerns over his tip and doubts over his chalk after switching to Taom last season.
‘My tip is also terrible, I’m just trying to get this event out of the way if I can, I have miscued a couple of times.
‘I’m tempted to go back to the chalk I was using before, I don’t feel like the one I use now works very well, there’s a lot of miscues. Certain venues, it seems like when it gets a bit humid the chalk doesn’t quite take. Maybe that’s to do with the confidence in the tip, though.
‘Maybe I need to use one chalk in some tournaments, and one in another, there’s nothing wrong with that.’
Trump is into the last 16 at the English Open where he plays Yuan Sijun on Thursday evening.
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