Three Things Learned After the Shanghai Masters After a spectacular 2019 so far for Judd Trump, a lot of people had been claiming that his
sustained success could lead to a longer period of domination in the
sport.To get more
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Trump captured maiden Masters and World Championship titles in the second
half of last season, has added two additional ranking crowns to his
tally this year, and risen to the number one spot in the world
rankings.There’s no doubting the improved fortunes of the 30 year-old
and, after more than a decade of promise, his true potential is finally
bearing fruit. However, it’s not really reasonable to think that the
Englishman will completely dominate the rest of the tour.Trump’s 13-game
unbeaten run was snapped by Mark Allen in a one-sided Shanghai Masters
affair on Thursday.
The fact that Trump will have to face formidable foes of Allen’s ilk week in and week out ensures that it’s extremely
unlikely that he can contend for every single title.Steve Davis and
Stephen Hendry got away with domination in the 1980s and 1990s
respectively in part because they were able to negotiate the early
rounds with greater ease. With the quality on the Main Tour at present,
it’s inevitably going to be difficult for anyone to properly
dominate.Everyone except Ronnie O’Sullivan, maybe.
Victory for the “Rocket” on Sunday means that, after the Shanghai Masters, O’Sullivan
has reached the final in two-thirds of the last dozen tournaments he’s
participated in – etching his name on the trophy an incredible six
times.It isn’t a new revelation by any stretch of the imagination but
once again the crowds turned out in their numbers to support the
Shanghai Masters this year. This event, going all the way back to its
early editions as a ranking event a decade ago, has generally been the
best in China on the calendar.One of the main reasons for this is the
fact there is actually a crowd there to appreciate the action and an
atmosphere for the players to draw inspiration from. One notable aspect
of the venue at the Regal International East Asia Hotel worth noting was
its size.
Considerably smaller than the majority of other arenas utilised for events in China, the evidence of empty seats was a lot less
prevalent. It obviously helps that there are less players to cater for,
with the other ranking events staged in the country forced to
incorporate two or three times the number of participants that were in
Shanghai.However, there is at least a lesson of sorts to be
learned.Venues don’t need to be 2,000-seaters, especially if there’s
little to no chance of them being filled up.The issue of Chinese
attendances is a complicated one and it’s not as straightforward as
simply getting the right venue, but it would help.Of course, it’s not
the first time that the Chinese number one has suffered from a prolonged
spell of bad form. In 2016, Ding dropped out of the world’s top 16 and
was forced to qualify for the World Championship – the year he went on
to reach the final at the Crucible.But has Ding ever looked quite this
bad for such a long time?
Long gone are the days when the 32 year-old was considered as a credible threat in the bigger tournaments
and it appears like only a matter of time that he’ll officially fall out
of the elite bracket again.Ding’s overall play has become slow,
defensive, and turgid to watch – a far cry from the champion who won a
record-equalling five ranking titles in the 2013/14 campaign. The former
Masters champion’s record against fellow top 16 members makes for
dismal reading with just one victory over a player of such status in
ranking events since the beginning of last season.Granted, he did enjoy
runs to the last four in both Shanghai and the Alexandra Palace last
term – events that boasted high-quality invitational fields – but these
instances are becoming less frequent. One big win could change all that
and help him to turn a corner but, with his confidence clearly low,
where that performance is going to come from is anyone’s guess.Ding is a
player who belongs at the top but talent is no match for what goes on
between the ears, and after the Shanghai Masters it disappointingly
looks as though his struggles are going to continue.
