Judd Trump 'annoyed' after 'not turning up' in defeat to Anthony McGill at World Snooker Championship

ByRob Hemingway

Updated 19/04/2023 at 18:36 GMT

"There's not a player on the big stage I'd have beaten playing like that," reflected Judd Trump after his 10-6 World Snooker Championship defeat to Scotland's Anthony McGill. It has not been a vintage year for the 2019 Crucible champion, but nonetheless losing to world No. 21 McGill was not a result many saw coming. Trump blamed "missing easy balls" and his concentration for the outcome.

Judd Trump lamented the "manner" of his surprise 10-6 loss to Anthony McGill at the World Championship, saying that missing easy balls is "something that I don't really do anymore".

Trump left himself with an uphill battle after the first session of the pair's encounter, trailing 6-3 to the Scot.

And though he fought hard to come back to 7-6 behind, McGill powered on from there to win three unanswered frames to take his place in the second round against Jack Lisowski, who beat Noppon Saengkham.

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"There's not a player on the big stage I'd have beaten playing like that, so [I] deserved to lose," Trump told Eurosport's Rachel Casey.

"[It's] just the manner of the loss. Not turning up, missing easy balls, it is something that I don't really do anymore.

"The whole season is maybe some concentration, just not focusing as hard as previous seasons.

"It is annoying because I had the chances - every time I came to the table in that last session the balls were absolutely everywhere.

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"On another day I should've finished them off quite comfortably.

Judd Trump of England reacts during his round one match against Anthony McGill of Scotland on Day Four of the Cazoo World Snooker Championship 2023 at Crucible Theatre on April 18, 2023 in Sheffield, England.

Image credit: Getty Images

"The end of the first session was the same, easy balls missed, and then same again cost me this afternoon [Wednesday]."

On the eve of the tournament, Trump had spoken about feeling confident of his chances at the Crucible, after winning in 2019, his sole world crown.

He said: “I’ve been practicing well, as I’m sure everybody has. I know when the form is there or thereabouts and I feel quietly confident.

“It’s nice to be going under the radar. There’s no pressure on me. Everything is on Ronnie [O'Sullivan] and Shaun Murphy – a lot of expectations.

“No one expects me to win and that’s normally when I play my best.”

Earlier in the day Kyren Wilson became the ninth different player in World Championship history to make a maximum 147 break.

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