Judd Trump has goaded Ronnie O'Sullivan after closing the gap on his rival's record number of 147 breaks.
On Tuesday, the 2019 world snooker champion got his second round match against Mitchell Mann off to the perfect start when he notched the eighth maximum of his career. His opponent never recovered, with Trump going on to take the match 4-0 and set up a tie with Welsh player Rhys Clarke on Wednesday evening.
It is the third 147 of 2022 for Trump, following his efforts at the Champion of Champions event and Turkish Masters. And it now brings him just seven behind O'Sullivan's record total of 15, a factor not lost on 'The Juddernaut' after his compatriot claimed he no longer cared about such feats,
“I always enjoy 147s, they are always super special to me,” Judd Trump told the World Snooker Tour after beating Mann. “I’ll be trying my best to make them as often as possible It will be interesting to see, now that I’m catching him [O’Sullivan] up a little bit if he will start really going for them again."
Despite O'Sullivan's apparent ambivalence towards a 147, Trump maintains the notion continues to excite him: “Any time when someone else is playing and on a maximum, you always tune into the live scores – if someone’s on 72 or 80, you always try to find the TV to watch it," he continued.
“It’s always a special feeling, and for my brother and my family there is a lot of hard work that has paid off during the years when it does happen. I could just feel the excitement when I made it out there."
The topic of maximum breaks has recently caused tension between Trump and O'Sullivan after the Champion of Champions final, where 'The Rocket' declined to congratulate his opponent after he notched one. He was roundly criticised for his actions, with fellow star Mark Allen one player to lament a lack of 'respect'.
But the seven-time world champion offered a brutal explanation in return, arguing he no longer saw them as a big deal. He later vowed to turn down the bonus cash prize on offer for a 147 at the UK Snooker Championship, claiming the £15,000 figure was too meagre.
O'Sullivan, 46, has himself has also made seamless progress in Scotland so far. Like Trump, his third round match will take place on Wednesday evening, against England's Gary Wilson.
