Judd Trump names tournaments he plans to skip as he plots peaking at right times

04/10/2023 16:12

Judd Trump is targeting the Northern Ireland and Welsh Opens to skip this season as he aims to get some rest and peak for the biggest events in the sport.

The return of Chinese events to the calendar this season has been a huge boost for snooker, giving players more opportunities to play and win prize money.

The consequence is obviously a much busier schedule, which is on show at the moment, with the British Open last week in Cheltenham, the English Open this week in Brentwood and the Wuhan Open next week in China.

Trump is playing in all three tournaments, but is already eyeing up a week off later this month during the Northern Ireland Open and again in February for the Welsh.

The 34-year-old is hoping to rack up enough wins early in the campaign to secure qualification for the World Grand Prix, Players Championship and even Tour Championship, then allowing him to take time off when he wants to later in the season.

Speaking at the English Open, Trump told : ‘This is about putting myself in a good position early on, which I didn’t do last season, I was chasing. It was the same the year before, I was chasing points trying to get in the big ones as a top 8, top 16 on the one-year list.

‘This year is a little bit different, it would have been nice to have won the European Masters, but I got to the final so I’m still in a good position for the top 16, top 32 already.