Judd Trump

Judd Trump will be making his Premier League debut this season.

He battled through the ultra-competitive Championship League in Essex in the early part of the year to qualify for the prestigious Premier League.

Regarded as one of the game's bright young prospects, Trump has moved into the top 32 of the official world rankings.

The gifted left-handed teenager enjoyed the best run of his career so far at the Grand Prix. After beating Aditya Mehta and Stephen Lee in the qualifying rounds, he went on to beat Joe Perry 5-2 at the venue, then registered one of the shocks of the season by edging out world No 1 Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-4.

"It feels brilliant, we both struggled but I went out there to do a job and I did it. To beat Ronnie on TV is massive for me. I fancy beating anyone on my day,” said Trump. That put him through to the semi-finals, where he gave eventual champion John Higgins a run for his money before losing 6-4.

Trump, from Keynsham on the outskirts of Bristol, enjoyed an outstanding record in the qualifiers throughout the season, reaching six of the eight venues in ranking events.

He also won his first professional title with victory at the qualifying tournament for the Masters at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield. He knocked out Matthew Couch, Dave Harold, Jamie Cope, Jin Long and Ken Doherty to reach the final, then hammered Mark Joyce 6-1 to earn a wild card to Wembley Arena for snooker’s most prestigious invitation event.

“It will be a great experience for me,” he said. “It’s obviously one of the best venues, along with the Crucible. I’ve watched the Masters on TV since I was young, I remember watching Jimmy White and a few others, so I can’t wait to play there myself." He faced Mark Allen in the first round at Wembley and lost 6-4.

The season finished in disappointment for Trump as he lost 10-8, from 6-2 up, to Stephen Lee in the final qualifying round of the World Snooker Championship. Wiltshire’s Lee admitted afterwards that the game had an extra edge to it due to “local rivalry.”

Nevertheless, Trump finished up in 30th place in the official rankings and starts the 2009/10 season provisionally 21st.

As well as impressing with his skill and attacking style on the table, Trump’s profile has been raised by his ‘boy band’ appearance and outlandish hairstyle – earning the nickname Haircut 100. He is the youngest of an emerging band of players making their mark at the top end of snooker.

Trump made his Crucible debut in 2007, beating James Wattana in the final qualifying round to become the third youngest player (after Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan) to play at the theatre of dreams. He briefly threatened an upset as he led Shaun Murphy, 6-5 but Murphy showed his experience as he won the next five frames to go through 10-6.

During his debut season in 2005/06, Trump became the youngest player ever to qualify for a ranking event venue by making the final stages of the Welsh Open. In 2003, he became the youngest ever winner of the Pontin’s Open, beating Mike Hallett in the final.

In 2004, aged 14 years and 208 days, he became the youngest player to make a competitive maximum 147 break, beating the record set by Ronnie O’Sullivan in 1991. He has been English champion at under-13 and under-15 level and also reached the semi-finals of the 2004 IBSF World Under-21 Championship.