The former snooker world champion reflects on Trump’s triumph at the UK Championship and pays tribute to the late Terry Griffiths.
Former snooker world champion Dennis Taylor says Judd Trump is “the polished article” following the 35-year-old’s triumph at the UK Championship.
Trump beat Barry Hawkins 10-8 in the final to seal his second UK title, and Taylor – who won the 1985 World Snooker Championship – says his all-round game is the best in the world.
Trump is the clear favourite in the snooker betting for the next World Championship in April 2025.
In our exclusive interview, Taylor also discussed the $1m bonus for making a 167 break in the upcoming World Masters of Snooker in Saudi Arabia, and paid tribute to Terry Griffiths after the former world champion passed away on 1 December.
Griffiths memorably beat Taylor in the 1979 final to win the first of his two World Snooker Championshp titles.
What were your memories of Terry Griffiths as a player and person?
I did get to see him on Tuesday. His son Darren brought me to the hospital. He had been very bad for the last couple of weeks, but still very sad. I know he had been poorly for a couple of years with dementia but it’s a sad loss.
Terry Griffiths was a very special person and to come through and win the World Championship through the qualifying rounds was an unbelievable achievement. Of course, I was looking forward to winning my first world title. I had been in a couple of semi-finals, and 1979 was a great year for me. I had beaten the great Ray Reardon and Steve Davies, so I was looking forward to playing in the final. I led Terry 15-13, and he outplayed me on the final day.
It was so funny because back in the day, he didn’t have a car with him, Terry. So, Terry and his wife, me and my wife were heading off for a meal with the sponsors. We used to go for a meal with the sponsors before we went back into the hotel to the families and there’s the four of us in my car with the World Championship trophy was in the boot of my car. All of the families mingled that night into the early hours of the morning.
We became very good friends because Terry had two children, Darren and Wayne, and we had three children. Doug Mountjoy had two children, and we used to go to Pontins to the big snooker festival and all of the families would be together. We even went to America, all 13 of us, over 40 years ago and went to Disneyland. He was a special person and a great coach. Not many of the top players were interested in coaching but Terry was always interested and when we travelled to different countries. I remember us going to Thailand and Hong Kong, and Terry was always there to coach the locals. He loved the game.
He learned a lot from Frank Callan, the coach that was the ‘Fishmonger from Blackpool’ that taught and coached a lot of the world champions including Steve Davies, Stephen Hendry, Terry Griffiths, John Parrot and I had a little session with Frank as well. Terry learned a lot from Frank and took it to a different level. He was a very special person and a world champion from the Valleys who will be missed.
How good of a player was Terry?
He was a brilliant player. When you talk about slow players, there were three players, Cliff Thorton, Eddie Charlton and Terry Griffiths. In exhibitions, Terry was a very fluent player, but he learnt that if he took his time in the top professional game, he got the results, and it worked for him. A wonderful all-round player and a little bit along the lines of the great Ray Reardon, very difficult to beat, very knowledgeable and a wonderful break builder.
To win that world championship in his first attempt from turning amateur was an incredible achievement. He was very well liked in his homeland of Wales, and everybody remembers in 1979 with that lovely Welsh accent to say, ‘I’m in the world final, you know’. He was liked wherever he went in the world.
How big of a win was the UK Championship for Judd Trump?
You could see what it meant to him in the interview afterwards, he was absolutely delighted. He paid a good tribute to his opponent Barry Hawkins.Iif it got to 9-9, Barry would have been a strong favourite to win that last frame.
Judd Trump is now the polished article. His all-round game is fantastic, he’s worked on his tactical game and is second to none now. He’s put an awful lot of work into it and not only that, but I was also talking to Sir Alex Ferguson at a Man United game, and he used to say about United when they were at their best is one of the big secrets is patience.
He is patient. When you watch Judd, he doesn’t rush into every shot and waits for the right moment. Judd is going to take some beating because he is one of the players everyone loves watching as you’re going to see shots you won’t see any other player playing and he wants to win everything he plays in. Whoever is going to beat Judd, they will have to play out of their skin to win.
Can Trump dominate the sport?
There’s no reason why he can’t. We talk about Steve Davies dominating the 1980s, and he did. Stephen Hendry dominated the ‘90s and Ronnie O’Sullivan has had an unbelievable amount of success. It’s so difficult to dominate the game these days because there are so many great players out there.
But Judd has won three titles this season and is so full of confidence, and all of the players know there are hardly any weaknesses in his game. Even if they play a good tactical game, Judd can match them with that. But he keeps his patience and when he gets his chance, Judd is devastating. He possibly could dominate but there are so many good players out there it is difficult to, but he won’t be far away.
If you hit a 147, you get a chance to pot a gold ball in Saudi Arabia to make a 167 break for $1m – what do you make of it?
When I last got asked about it, I thought it was a gimmick, it was farcical. But when I watched it, I thought ‘what a great idea this is,’ because once there is no maximum they pick it off the table. What a great idea to put a gold ball in there with a chance to make 167. John Higgins almost did it. I think it adds something to it, and I take it back because I think it’s a great idea. It adds a lot of interest and it’s been increased to $1m so that’s pretty good if you can make a 167.
World Championship.
Trump beat Barry Hawkins 10-8 in the final to seal his second UK title, and Taylor – who won the 1985 World Snooker Championship – says his all-round game is the best in the world.
Trump is the clear favourite in the snooker betting for the next World Championship in April 2025.
In our exclusive interview, Taylor also discussed the $1m bonus for making a 167 break in the upcoming World Masters of Snooker in Saudi Arabia, and paid tribute to Terry Griffiths after the former world champion passed away on 1 December.
Griffiths memorably beat Taylor in the 1979 final to win the first of his two World Snooker Championshp titles.
What were your memories of Terry Griffiths as a player and person?
I did get to see him on Tuesday. His son Darren brought me to the hospital. He had been very bad for the last couple of weeks, but still very sad. I know he had been poorly for a couple of years with dementia but it’s a sad loss.
Terry Griffiths was a very special person and to come through and win the World Championship through the qualifying rounds was an unbelievable achievement. Of course, I was looking forward to winning my first world title. I had been in a couple of semi-finals, and 1979 was a great year for me. I had beaten the great Ray Reardon and Steve Davies, so I was looking forward to playing in the final. I led Terry 15-13, and he outplayed me on the final day.
It was so funny because back in the day, he didn’t have a car with him, Terry. So, Terry and his wife, me and my wife were heading off for a meal with the sponsors. We used to go for a meal with the sponsors before we went back into the hotel to the families and there’s the four of us in my car with the World Championship trophy was in the boot of my car. All of the families mingled that night into the early hours of the morning.
We became very good friends because Terry had two children, Darren and Wayne, and we had three children. Doug Mountjoy had two children, and we used to go to Pontins to the big snooker festival and all of the families would be together. We even went to America, all 13 of us, over 40 years ago and went to Disneyland. He was a special person and a great coach. Not many of the top players were interested in coaching but Terry was always interested and when we travelled to different countries. I remember us going to Thailand and Hong Kong, and Terry was always there to coach the locals. He loved the game.
He learned a lot from Frank Callan, the coach that was the ‘Fishmonger from Blackpool’ that taught and coached a lot of the world champions including Steve Davies, Stephen Hendry, Terry Griffiths, John Parrot and I had a little session with Frank as well. Terry learned a lot from Frank and took it to a different level. He was a very special person and a world champion from the Valleys who will be missed.
How good of a player was Terry?
He was a brilliant player. When you talk about slow players, there were three players, Cliff Thorton, Eddie Charlton and Terry Griffiths. In exhibitions, Terry was a very fluent player, but he learnt that if he took his time in the top professional game, he got the results, and it worked for him. A wonderful all-round player and a little bit along the lines of the great Ray Reardon, very difficult to beat, very knowledgeable and a wonderful break builder.
To win that world championship in his first attempt from turning amateur was an incredible achievement. He was very well liked in his homeland of Wales, and everybody remembers in 1979 with that lovely Welsh accent to say, ‘I’m in the world final, you know’. He was liked wherever he went in the world.
How big of a win was the UK Championship for Judd Trump?
You could see what it meant to him in the interview afterwards, he was absolutely delighted. He paid a good tribute to his opponent Barry Hawkins.Iif it got to 9-9, Barry would have been a strong favourite to win that last frame.
Judd Trump is now the polished article. His all-round game is fantastic, he’s worked on his tactical game and is second to none now. He’s put an awful lot of work into it and not only that, but I was also talking to Sir Alex Ferguson at a Man United game, and he used to say about United when they were at their best is one of the big secrets is patience.
He is patient. When you watch Judd, he doesn’t rush into every shot and waits for the right moment. Judd is going to take some beating because he is one of the players everyone loves watching as you’re going to see shots you won’t see any other player playing and he wants to win everything he plays in. Whoever is going to beat Judd, they will have to play out of their skin to win.
Can Trump dominate the sport?
There’s no reason why he can’t. We talk about Steve Davies dominating the 1980s, and he did. Stephen Hendry dominated the ‘90s and Ronnie O’Sullivan has had an unbelievable amount of success. It’s so difficult to dominate the game these days because there are so many great players out there.
But Judd has won three titles this season and is so full of confidence, and all of the players know there are hardly any weaknesses in his game. Even if they play a good tactical game, Judd can match them with that. But he keeps his patience and when he gets his chance, Judd is devastating. He possibly could dominate but there are so many good players out there it is difficult to, but he won’t be far away.
If you hit a 147, you get a chance to pot a gold ball in Saudi Arabia to make a 167 break for $1m – what do you make of it?
When I last got asked about it, I thought it was a gimmick, it was farcical. But when I watched it, I thought ‘what a great idea this is,’ because once there is no maximum they pick it off the table. What a great idea to put a gold ball in there with a chance to make 167. John Higgins almost did it. I think it adds something to it, and I take it back because I think it’s a great idea. It adds a lot of interest and it’s been increased to $1m so that’s pretty good if you can make a 167.
