Anthony Hamilton saw a lot of snooker in his 31 years as a professional and rates Judd Trump’s evolution as possibly the most impressive thing he’s witnesseda in the game.
The Sheriff of Pottingham has retired after dropping off the pro tour for the first time since 1991, heading into the world of coaching instead of battling it out on the baize.
Turning professional in 1991 and hanging up his cue in 2025 means the 53-year-old faced great names from multiple generations but it is the current world number one that stands out to him.
Not necessarily as the absolute best he has faced, but as the most impressive transformation from an all-out-attack potter into an beautifully-rounded player and winning machine.
Asked if found that there were players he liked to watch over his career, Hamilton told Metro: ‘I’m not sure about liking. I get impressed by certain players more than others.
‘Like Trump, for instance, what he’s done to his game in this last decade or so, I think that’s the most impressive thing I’ve seen. He’s turned into possibly the hardest player to play against.
‘When he first came on the scene he was a one trick pony, just potting everything. He sat down and thought about it with his brother. How can I improve? What do I do? And he’s done it off his own back. That’s really impressive.
‘Now when I watch him I’m like, “Christ, I’m glad I’m not playing you anymore.” Even when he’s crap he’s amazing!’
There is no shortage of impressive players at the top of the game, with Hamilton name checking the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins, but one man he thinks does not get the credit he deserves is Mark Allen.
He reckons the Pistol does things in a way that fellow players will appreciate, but maybe not the viewing public as much.
‘Obviously the usual suspects like Ronnie and John. Mark Allen’s great to watch because he’s a bit of a snooker player’s, snooker player,’ said Hamilton.
‘He’s very technical and very precise the way he scores. The skill levels of that don’t really get applauded enough.
‘He’s a snooker player’s, snooker player because he makes 100 without playing any good shots. That’s the real sign of a great snooker player for me.’
New world champion Zhao Xintong is an entirely different type of player to Allen, with Hamilton saying of the Cyclone’s fuss-free, casual style: ‘It looks like he’s just on a little Sunday stroll in the club when he’s playing.
‘You know what he plays like? He plays like a billionaire’s son.’
The Sheriff expects Zhao to pick up plenty more pieces of silverware in the years to come, but not to dominate the game and be a regular winner as Trump has been in recent times.
‘He might go missing again for another half of the season,’ he said. ‘He’s done it before, where he’s won tournaments and gone missing because it just looks like it’s the way he plays. He could go missing, but then he could win two back-to-back, easy.
‘He’s not going to dominate like Judd does, I don’t think. But he will win tournaments at a canter at times.’
Zhao won the UK Championship and German Masters in fairly short order in 2021 and ’22, then faded as a title-winning force before being banned from the sport for his involvement in the sport’s match-fixing scandal.
His return to win the World Championship as an amateur at the time was remarkable and Hamilton puts it down to being refocussed on his career and maturing as a person and player.
‘He appreciates it now that he had it taken away,’ said Hamilton. ‘But also he’s 28, he’s not a spring chicken anymore, and it can take that long to really get to grips with this game.
‘You don’t really know what day it is until you’re in your thirties, in a way. A 20-year-old brain is not really qualified to dominate the game. A lot of it is about being human and being strong.’
