- Written by Michael Emmons
- BBC Sport at the Crucible Theater in Sheffield
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venue: Crucible Theatre, Sheffield date: April 20th – May 6th |
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coverage: Watch live on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website and the BBC Sport mobile app. Live text coverage of selected matches.Radio 5 Live Latest News |
Judd Trump has said anything short of winning the 2024 World Championship would be a “failure”, but believes Ronnie O'Sullivan is the favorite to win the event.
World No. 1 O'Sullivan is aiming for his eighth Crucible title, while No. 2 Trump won the tournament in 2019.
Trump will face Iran's Hossein Bafai in Saturday's opening match, but O'Sullivan will have to wait until Wednesday.
“All the greats were able to win world championships multiple times,” the 34-year-old Trump said.
“It's different playing from day one, so I'm happy to get into the tournament right away. It's been a good season and I'm a lot more confident than last year.”
Trump won the British Open, Wuhan Open, Northern Ireland Open, German Masters and World Open in 2023-24, but lost 10-7 to O'Sullivan in the World Grand Prix final.
O'Sullivan, 48, also lifted the World Masters and Shanghai Masters trophies and won the other two of snooker's Triple Crown events, the Masters and the British Championship.
O'Sullivan holds a record eight wins at both the Masters and British Championships, and another success at the Crucible would see him overtake Stephen Hendry's record of seven world titles.
President Trump added, “Ronnie will still be among the favorites to win this season.''
“There's a lot of pressure on him and it's going to be tough going 8-8-8.” [World, UK and Masters titles] in the same season. Expectations for him are higher than they have been in the last 10 years.”
Trump defeated John Higgins 18-9 in the 2019 final, but lost to O'Sullivan 18-13 in the 2022 final.
However, as reigning Belgian champion Luca Bressel is the No. 1 seed, they will not be able to meet in this year's final, and if they advance, Trump and O'Sullivan will meet in the semi-finals.
“I would have liked to play him in another final, but he will be more vulnerable in the semifinals,” Trump said, adding that he will only be satisfied when he lifts the trophy on May 6.
“If you don't win, you're a failure. If you come home from a tournament and you don't win, you're a failure. It feels terrible to lose, and if you don't win, it's not enough. Even if you lose to Ronnie in the semifinals.” In the finals, I feel like a failure. Dew. ”
image source, Getty Images
Bressel is confident in ending the 'melting pot curse'
Bressel, who is ranked fourth in the world, aims to win his first world title in 2023 by defeating O'Sullivan in the quarter-finals and four-time champion Mark Selby in the final.
He begins his defense against 2019 semi-finalist David Gilbert in the first session at 10am BST on Saturday before they return for the evening session at 7pm. So Bressel will either be the first to reach the last 16 or the first man to reach the last 16. First eliminated.
No first Crucible world champion has ever held the title, but the 29-year-old believes he can break the so-called Crucible curse.
“This is my only chance to do it and I'm going to go for it, and if it doesn't happen that's fine,” he said. “It's going to happen someday, but who knows if it's going to happen to me? If I play at the same level, I have a really good chance.
“It's hard to win the first time, but the next year there's so much public attention that you kind of crumble. That doesn't happen to me. If I lose, it's because I didn't play well enough and I'm not good enough.” I guess it's because I didn't play well enough.'' There's too much pressure. ”
Elsewhere, world No. 3 Mark Allen has reached the Crucible semi-finals twice and feels there is more to come.
He said, “Although I have won three tournaments and am high on the one-year list and in the world rankings, I don't feel like I am playing as well as I would like, even though I have a chance to win.'' Ta. I haven't played well, but that's the great thing about it.”
Three-time world champion Mark Williams, who has defeated O'Sullivan, Allen and Trump in his last three matches, said: “I'm not going to go as one of the favorites, but as one of the guys they don't want to play. I'm going to fight,” he added. If we keep playing like we are, we have a chance. ”
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