Alan McManus picks out snooker’s player of the season so far

Alan McManus sees Judd Trump as the player of the season so far, edging ahead of the likes of Mark Selby and double-champion Jak Jones.

There have been some big-name titlists already this season but it has also been an unpredictable start to the campaign in many ways.

Jones began the season with no ranking titles to his name and now has two, having won twice in just six events.

Chang Bingyu and Ali Carter have joined Jones in winning ranking titles despite being ranked outside of the top 16 at the time, illustrating how many contenders there are on the professional tour now.

The more predictable winners have been Selby at the China Open, world champion Wu Yize at the Shenzhen Open and Trump at the non-ranking Shanghai Masters in August.

Trump may not have got his hands on a ranking title yet this season, but he has been very consistent, reaching at least the quarter-finals in four of the five events he has played.

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His one early slip up came at the China Open when he lost to eventual runner-up Noppon Saengkham in the first round.

The 37-year-old has turned in some under-par performances when he has got to the business end of events, including in a semi-final defeat to Wu at the Shenzhen Open on Saturday, but McManus still feels he has performed better than anyone else so far this season.

‘Judd, for me, the player of the season so far, it’s just the very odd match he’s not turning up and throwing in the odd bad performance,’ McManus said on his Snooker Breakfast podcast. ‘But we can forgive him that because he’s winning tons and tons of matches and the majority of them at a landslide.’

On his 6-1 loss to Wu in Shenzhen, the former Masters champion said: ‘Just one of those bad days at the office, I guess, and he’ll have to put it down to that.

‘He’s had one or two heavy defeats this season, Noppon Saengkham was 6-3, but we know Judd is going to have a terrific season, he’s already having a very very good one, probably the best of anyone.’

As for the man who knocked Trump out in Shenzhen, Wu went on to lift the title and add it to the World Championship and International Championship that he has won in the last 12 months at just 22 years old.

‘Wu Yize brushed aside Judd Trump,’ said McManus. ‘Credit to him, he’s holding that mantle of being world champion. It’s not weighing heavy on his shoulders to me, he looks really calm. In no way is he looking under serious pressure.

‘You’re talking about three massive events in 11 months. He hasn’t had a great season so far, granted, but I certainly didn’t think that was going to last very long and it hasn’t.’

Wu had struggled in ranking events this campaign before his Shenzhen triumph, so he wouldn’t have much of an argument to challenge Trump for player of the season so far.

However, Selby would certainly get some votes and Jones might do as well after winning the Championship League and the British Open.

Jones’ run to victory in Cheltenham was especially impressive, beating Chang and Trump on his way to the British Open final where he downed Selby.

The Jester from Leicester has won the biggest tournament of the season so far, the China Open, was runner-up at the British Open and has been to two more quarter-finals, winning more matches than any other player.

Trump did whitewash Selby 5-0 in the Shenzhen quarter-finals, though, in their only meeting this season.

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