Stars want to move away from the current money-based touring model.
– I’d rather win five or six races a year than one. Then the title of the world’s number one player would feel deserved.
Snooker star Judd Trump said in early September on the BBC what many professional players thought. Trump is by far the most successful player in recent seasons in ranking tournaments that affect the world rankings of the sport.
Last season, he participated in 15 tournaments, of which he won five. The superiority of the players is determined by the prize money achieved in the world ranking of the sport during the two seasons.
In that period, Trump has earned a total of 1.474 million British pounds, or 1.75 million euros. No other player has crossed the £1 million mark.
However, the main reason for Trump’s superiority is not to be found in the five tournaments won last season. At the beginning of September, Trump won the Saudi Arabian Masters tournament played for the first time in Riyadh, from which he netted prize money of 500,000 pounds, or almost 600,000 euros.
Trump played five matches in Riyadh. He cashed in almost as much pounds from them as he did from last season’s total tournament winnings (£550,000).
There is only one ranking tournament on the professional snooker tour, which rivals the prize money of the Saudis. The prize for winning the World Cup tournament played in Sheffield, England is also half a million pounds.
However, there is a significant difference between the tournaments. In order to win the world championship, Trump must win 71 sets in the World Championship. In Saudi Arabia, 33 set wins were enough for the same account. Also, in his five tournament wins last season, Trump had to win more sets in each of them than in Riyadh.
Money for points
At the moment, the first prizes of the World Cup tournament and the Saudi competition make up more than a third of the prize money of the entire season.
– If a player wins the Saudi competition and the World Cup tournament, he will probably remain number one in the world rankings, even if he loses in the first round in all other tournaments. It’s time to find a balance. It can be found in the points-based system, which we have been trying to run for a few years, which is third in the world list Mark Allen told the BBC.
According to Trump, the World Cup tournament and the Saudi Masters will force the snooker bosses to change the structure of the world ranking.
– It’s very difficult to become number one if a player doesn’t win one or the other of the giants, Trump said.
The last time the world list was formed using a point system was in the 2013–2014 season. Since then, money has been the determining factor.
The two emphasized that no snooker professional is against increasing prize money. The improvement of players just has to be measured in a different way than it is now.
– We are living in the golden age of snooker players. The umbrella organization has done a wonderful job over the past 12 to 18 months, Allen praised.