Judd Trump has revealed he rejected offers to join a rival snooker tour after cruising into the quarter-finals of the world championship with a 13-7 win over Tom Ford at the Crucible.
Trump says he has no interest in the prospective LIV-style breakaway, which is understood to emanate from east Asia and requires a commitment to play in eight regular events plus a grand final in exchange for a six-figure sign-on fee.
“A few people have tried to contact me and I just couldn’t be bothered,” said Trump. “If they try to contact me or my brother I just tell them to go away. I’m very happy where I am, with the tournaments I play in. I need something with history and heritage. I need something to play for. I don’t think I would really get out of bed for an exhibition series.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan has already in effect ruled himself out of any parallel tour by signing a deal to play in World Snooker Tour events in Saudi Arabia for the next three years. Although the WST recently relaxed its rules allowing contracted players to appear in other events provided they do not clash with its own, the scale of the prospective east Asian tour makes committing to both impossible.
Trump, who said contact had been initiated in recent months via his brother Jack, believes that without the sport’s biggest names the threatened breakaway is already redundant, adding: “I don’t think there’s enough players or enough names that could do damage. I think Ronnie is the only one if he left – to be honest, I don’t think people are that bothered by anyone else. I feel like with what I’ve established in the game alongside Ronnie, if I’m staying here then the tour will be a strong place.
“For me it’s about the titles. At the end of the day everyone wants more money but this isn’t the right time for me. I’d be a lot happier winning my money rather than getting gifted it. I love playing in the kind of tournament with something on the line. I don’t want to lose and feel nothing. I hate losing. I couldn’t imagine walking off and getting paid the same, win or lose. It’s not the same for me.
“I’d love for World Snooker to big up the prize money and play for more in the future, but I want to do it with something on the line. Hopefully they can expand and take us to different territories. I’m just trying to win every tournament and get back to No 1.”
Resuming 11-5 in front, Trump fired breaks of 107 and 84 to complete his win and seal his place in the last eight for the 10th time in his career. Trump, who will play either Jak Jones or Si Jiahui in the next round, described his performance as average, and added: “The table was a bit heavy but I think I dealt with it, I wasn’t too harsh with myself and I was able to stay patient.”
Stephen Maguire punched the air after winning an epic final frame of the second session of his grudge match against Shaun Murphy to take a 10-6 advantage. The pair, who have feuded for two decades over an incident in which Maguire was penalised a frame for forgetting his chalk, resumed on Saturday with the Scot holding a slender 5-3 lead.
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After barely being separated for much of the session, Maguire showed his emotions when he sunk the pink after clawing back a 63-point deficit in the 16th frame, putting clear air between the pair going into Sunday’s concluding session.