Snooker
Who Will Replace Judd Trump As Snooker’s World Number One?
Judd Trump has lost his world number one spot after two years at the top. We look at who could replace him as the Wuhan Open reaches its business end.
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Judd Trump's reign as snooker's world number one is over.
The Ace in the Pack, who snatched the top spot from Northern Ireland's Mark Allen just over two years ago, has relinquished his place at the summit of the game's order of merit following his quarterfinal exit to Chinese rising star Chang Bingyu at the 2026 Wuhan Open.
The writing had been on the wall for some time. Trump's £500,000 in ranking money from winning the 2024 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, the event billed as snooker's unofficial fourth major, dropped off his two-year rolling total after the tournament was scrapped in April with no future edition planned.
Losing that sum without any means of recouping it in one go left Trump needing to go all the way in Wuhan and pocket the winner's £175,000 to stand any chance of staying top. His run ended in the last eight, so the sport now has a new leader.
A five-horse race before a ball was struck
Before play got underway in Wuhan, five players had a route to finishing the week as world number one.
Trump was one, but so too was newly crowned world champion Wu Yize, who needed a strong week in China to leapfrog him. That hope disappeared early when Wu lost to Artemijs Zizins in qualifying, meaning he never reached the main draw.
2025 UK Championship winner Mark Selby was also in contention, but a quarterfinal defeat to Ronnie O'Sullivan ended his chances.
That left two players standing. 2025 world champion Zhao Xintong and five-time former number one Neil Robertson.
The interesting part is that the pair now face each other directly in the quarterfinal stage of the Wuhan Open, with play beginning today, 27 August, at 12:30 UK time.
Whoever comes through that match and reaches the semifinal will become the newly crowned world number one regardless of how the rest of the tournament plays out, since their rivals for the top spot are already out of the running.
Overseas number one for the first time since 2015
The stakes attached to that Zhao versus Robertson meeting were considerable.
Snooker has not had a world number one born outside the UK and Ireland since China's Ding Junhui held the spot in 2015.
Zhao would become just the second Chinese player ever to top the rankings, following in Ding's footsteps, while Robertson would be chasing a fifth stint as number one, something he last managed back in January 2015.
What's left in Wuhan
The tournament itself still has plenty to offer beyond the number one question.
The winner of Robertson against Zhao will go on to face the winner of Mark Williams and defending back-to-back Wuhan champion Xiao Guodong in one semifinal, while the draw's other semi is already locked in as Ronnie O'Sullivan against Chang Bingyu, the man who ended Trump's reign.
Editor's Insight
There is something rather unfair about how Trump lost this ranking. He never got the chance to defend the Saudi money because the tournament simply vanished from the calendar. A straight removal of that £500,000 in one hit feels harsh when the player had no way to protect it. WST would do well to consider a staggered decrease for ranking money tied to axed events, rather than pulling the full amount off in one go.
If we're calling it, we'll go with Zhao Xintong to be the next world number one.
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Louis Hobbs is the Sports Editor at SportsBoom, overseeing daily coverage across a wide range of sports while shaping the site’s editorial direction and breaking news agenda.
When he’s not editing the website from home or SportsBoom’s London office, Louis can usually be found in the darts or snooker press room. He has covered both sports extensively for SportsBoom, reporting live from venues for over three years and building strong relationships across the professional circuits.
With a background in interviews, exclusives and live event reporting, Louis combines on-the-ground insight with sharp editorial judgement to ensure SportsBoom delivers authoritative, engaging and timely sports journalism.