Judd Trump names tournaments he plans to skip as he plots peaking at right times

The consequence is obviously a much busier schedule, which is on show at the moment, with the British Open last week in Cheltenham, the English Open this week in Brentwood and the Wuhan Open next week in China.

Trump is playing in all three tournaments, but is already eyeing up a week off later this month during the Northern Ireland Open and again in February for the Welsh.

The 34-year-old is hoping to rack up enough wins early in the campaign to secure qualification for the World Grand Prix, Players Championship and even Tour Championship, then allowing him to take time off when he wants to later in the season.

Speaking at the English Open, Trump told Metro.co.uk: ‘This is about putting myself in a good position early on, which I didn’t do last season, I was chasing. It was the same the year before, I was chasing points trying to get in the big ones as a top 8, top 16 on the one-year list.

‘This year is a little bit different, it would have been nice to have won the European Masters, but I got to the final so I’m still in a good position for the top 16, top 32 already.

‘It’s a bit more relaxing when you’re not chasing. It gives yourself more opportunities to take tournaments off if you want. It would obviously be nice to do well here, really cement my place near the top and there’s so many events, it would give me chances to have time off before the big ones.

‘There’s probably a good chance i’ll miss Northern Ireland and maybe the Welsh, depending on how I do. At this moment in time it’ll be those two. I’ll wait and see what I do here this week.’

There is another hat-trick of huge events in November and December after the Northern Ireland Open, which Trump is hoping to peak for, having learned from experience that flying straight from a Chinese event to Belfast can be tough.

‘It’s just because of what comes after certain events that I’d take them off,’ he said. ‘We’ve got the International Championship, Champion of Champions and UK Championship all in a row. Three massive events that you want to do well in.

‘You don’t want to go there off the back of China to Ireland. I did it before after the [2017] Shanghai Masters final and I think I lost to Stuart Carrington in the first round in Northern Ireland. I didn’t want to be there, you don’t want to be in that mindset going into any tournament.’

The 2019 world champion is certainly not complaining about taking time off during the season, seeing the ability to do so as a sign that the calendar is in good shape.

‘I think obviously it’s amazing to have all these events on,’ he said. ‘It could be looked on that some of the top players are a bit ungrateful, but even if the top players don’t go in things, it’s an amazing opportunity for lower-ranked players.

‘Similar to tennis and golf, you don’t get the top players in each week, it’s just more opportunity for everyone else and they’re still brilliant tournaments.

‘It’s beneficial to have all these tournaments on, we don’t have to play in them if we don’t want to, I think that’s probably the best way to look at it.’

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