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Snooker isn’t anywhere near as popular as it used to be, and it’s not really surprising. There’s only so much snooker one person can watch, as it doesn’t have the speed and action of other sports (if you can really call it a sport). I’ve really enjoyed this year’s world championship though – mainly because of the emergence of Judd Trump. As I write this Judd is in the final against John Higgins and it’s 4-4, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens from here on.
The great thing about Trump is that he’s not just a good player but he also wants to entertain the crowd. Often when he’s one a frame (and sometimes even before) he goes for trick shots to provide some entertainment. In what can be a very repetitive sport at times, I think this is something more players should be encouraged to do.
There’s a reason that players like Ronnie O’Sullivan are so popular despite causing more controversy than any other player, and that’s because they’re entertaining. We don’t want to watch potting machines trading frame for frame. Some people seem to think that personality means laughing and joking at the table, which is good to see, but having people try different shots and being aggressive is most entertaining for me. The contrast can make for some very interesting matches – a lot of games are so similar at the moment that they could almost be played by any player, whereas you immediately know that Trump and O’Sullivan are playing.