Judd Trump reveals message to Hossein Vafaei after shock Crucible defeat

Judd Trump urged Hossein Vafaei to believe in himself more after losing to the Iranian in a dramatic World Snooker Championship second round clash.

The Pride of Persia edged the world number one 13-12 in a brilliant game, which seemed to be slipping away from him when he fell 10-7 behind.

The 31-year-old won four frames on the spin to take the lead but Trump went one frame from victory by winning the next two.

The pressure was on Vafaei and he stood up to it, brilliantly making breaks of 106 and 91 to get over the line and into the quarter-finals where he takes on Wu Yize.

It was another disappointing Crucible defeat for Trump, who remains on his one 2019 World Championship title, but there was a warm embrace at the end of the match and some nice words exchanged.

Asked what he said to the winner, Trump said: ‘Just believe in himself a little bit more. I think he’s more than good enough to win all kinds of events.

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‘I think he just lacks a little bit of self-belief at times and maybe at the start of the game. But when he got going and when he saw I wasn’t playing well, he kind of pounced on it and he just needs to do that from the start in the next game.’

Vafaei comes across as a confident character, but Trump says true belief in your own ability to win only comes from actually winning.

‘I just think if he really believed in himself, you only get that from winning,’ said the world number one. ‘So even I struggle with that this season when I’ve not been winning.

‘So for someone that’s been around and got the talent and not won, it’s very hard to believe in yourself.

‘He’s a great guy. I think he’s had so many struggles and I think if he didn’t have that, if he was from somewhere else – at the start of his career, it was very hard for him to play in certain events – he would have, I think, been in the top 16 by now.

‘But yeah, I like him and hopefully he can play well in the quarters.’

Asked if he does indeed lack self-belief, Vafaei said: ‘I push myself down a lot. It’s nice when the world number one gives you this kind of advice that you can do it and go so far in this tournament. I get confidence of it.’

On whether he believes he can go on to win the World Championship this year, he was clear, saying: ‘Absolutely.’

As for Trump, he took defeat well, but it is a disappointing end to a solid, but unspectacular season for the Ace.

Asked if losing hurts as much as it once did, he said: ‘No, it hurts, but I think I had my chance. And I think when you know you didn’t play a good shot or whatever, then it’s not like I was unlucky or anything like that.

‘I’ve got nothing to be angry about. I just wasn’t good enough. So it still hurts. I still wanted to win out there, but the game was played in a good spirit, I think.

‘I like Hossein, so I’m not going to be angry at him or anything like that.
I had my chance. I think as you get older, you learn to be a little bit more chill when you lose.’

Can Vafaei become world champion next week?

‘Why not?’ Trump said. ‘No one thought Luca [Brecel] was going to win or Kyren [Wilson] was going to win or [Zhao] Xintong was going to win. So he’s in the same kind of mould as them.

‘He scores very heavy. He’s very dangerous. He’s obviously got a tough draw, but I think Wu Yize is inexperienced as well. So it’s going to be free-for-all in that game, I think.’

Trump has won the German Masters this season and reached three more ranking finals, but felt he was not clinical enough in big moments over the campaign, as evidence by a string of deciding frame defeats.

On how he can remedy his lack of ruthlessness next season, he said: ‘I’m hoping you tell me! I don’t really know.

‘I think the longer the season goes on, for me, I kind of wanted it to finish. I gave it my all this tournament and the same pattern happened again.

‘So it’s nice just to get that out of your head and start again fresh. I think, yeah, it’s a month or two to find the right cue, find whatever I need to do and get my head right, have a break and go in fresh for the next season.’

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