UK Championship snooker 2020 - Ronnie O'Sullivan: 'Judd Trump is main man, Kyren Wilson top rival'

ByDan Quarrell

Published 04/12/2020 at 15:53 GMT

Ronnie O'Sullivan has lauded Judd Trump, calling the world number one "the main man" in snooker and praising his ability to lead the sport with his talent and play. The Rocket also made the point that Trump and Kyren Wilson, who he faced at the UK Championship, are now the top rivalry in snooker looking ahead.

Ronnie O'Sullivan has said he believes that Judd Trump is the top figure in world snooker and that the Bristolian's rivalry with Kyren Wilson will now be the defining one in the sport.

World number one Trump beat Ricky Walden in the fourth round of the UK Championship on Thursday with two breaks of 50-plus helping him assert his dominance over his fellow Englishman.

The 2020 Northern Ireland Open champion after winning the previous event will next meet Wilson, a convincing winner over Graeme Dott, in the last eight in Milton Keynes on Friday evening.

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O'Sullivan told Eurosport that he believes Wilson represents Trump's biggest rival now and for the coming years, and is in no doubting the pair's quality.

"I like this match-up a lot," O'Sullivan told Jimmy White and Colin Murray in the Eurosport studio after having been knocked out earlier in the tournament.

Ronnie O'Sullivan: 'Judd Trump is the main man'

"Obviously Judd is the main man, winning all the big tournaments and leading the rankings by far.

Wilson is one of those guys where every time Trump beats him it just makes him stronger. That is going to be Judd's rivalry for the next few years.

"There are players underneath him that are younger and just want to learn from him. They will treat each time they play him as a learning experience.

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"You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don't have the right temperament you won't win anything and that is why some of the younger players need to keep growing."

Just a day after Trump's victory at the Northern Ireland Open, the UK Championship got underway in Milton Keynes. Now in the quarter-finals, the 31-year-old could win yet another major title this week.

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