'Best snooker I've seen' - Jimmy White hails Judd Trump's 2019 masterclass

Back in April, Andy Goldstein, Jimmy White and Neal Foulds sat down (over Zoom) to examine the greatest Triple Crown matches in history in one of the first episodes of The Break podcast.

Post-lockdown, The Break will be returning for the 2020 World Championship with new episodes hosted by Rachel Casey and featuring a cast of Eurosport experts.

The first episode will be live on Wednesday evening, following the draw for the first round at the Crucible.

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This article was first published in April.

Twelve months ago, Trump produced a near-perfect performance, including a record-equalling seven centuries, to beat John Higgins 18-9 at the Crucible and clinch his first world title.

And speaking with Andy Goldstein and Neal Foulds while examining the greatest Triple Crown matches in history, White said of Trump's display last year: “It was quite incredible.

“It didn’t matter what John Higgins threw at him - he had four centuries in that final so he wasn’t playing bad stuff - Trump was just phenomenal.

“Any chance of a long ball and when he was playing safe, he had John Higgins tight on the cushion and there’s just not a lot you can do. When players of that standard produce that kind of form they’re more or less impossible to beat and we saw two sessions of snooker there that we’ll probably never see again.”

White also said it was pleasing to see Trump finally “connect the dots” as he became the 11th player to complete snooker's Triple Crown - winning the World Championship, UK Championship and the Masters.

“To see Trump go from this player that frustrated Neal [Foulds] quite a lot - more than me really - because he was such a great player and not producing to all of a sudden connecting all the dots and realising that he can practise.

Along with Trump’s victory last year, White and Foulds agreed that Paul Hunter’s win over Ronnie O’Sullivan in the 2004 Masters final was a standout moment in Triple Crown history.

Hunter, who died in 2006, came from 7-2 down to beat O’Sullivan 10-9 in a thrilling final.

“It’s hard to talk about Paul Hunter without getting a bit emotional because who knows how far he could have gone with his game,” said Foulds.

“He won three Masters and he won them all from behind. He was one of these guys who wasn’t a very good frontrunner strangely. I looked at all those Masters wins and almost every match went to the last frame. Even an easy win would be a 6-3 or 6-4 to get him to the final.

“Against Ronnie he was 7-2 down; who beats Ronnie from 7-2 down? Especially at the Conference Centre. But you can also look at other stats in that match, there’s a very revealing one there. Paul Hunter made five centuries in that final, Ronnie didn’t make any. So that tells you this guy was not somebody from yesteryear.

White added: “The thing I remember about that final is that they both had headbands on! It was all about Paul Hunter being the new David Beckham of snooker.

“He was well behind in his previous two matches and for him to win a third one 10-9 from 7-2 behind with Ronnie O’Sullivan was an unbelievable feat.

“As Neal said, we do really miss Paul Hunter and who knows how many tournaments he would have won.”