Judd Trump interview

But the abiding memory for many was the sight of the spiky-haired 21-year-old sitting in his seat and soaking up the applause with a delighted smile on his face as his eyes wandered around the packed Crucible Theatre before the last session of the final.

However, speaking before his partypoker.com Premier League clash with Ronnie O’Sullivan at Southampton Guildhall earlier this month, the game’s latest pin-up boy revealed that the pressure got to him at the end.

Trump had led three-time champion John Higgins 12-9 but slipped to an 18-15 defeat.

“The atmosphere was just unbelievable,” he said. “I didn’t expect that.

“I tried my best. Maybe the odd shot changed it here and there. But if they went in, then…you just don’t know.

“That was my game from the start of the two weeks and I didn’t want to change it just because I was in the final.

“Obviously there was a little more pressure towards the end. Maybe that’s the reason.

“Hopefully, next year or the year after I’ll be able to deal with the pressure and I’ll be able to play my whole game for the whole two weeks.

“Through the whole couple of weeks, I just tried to enjoy it.

Indeed. Trump pocketed £125,000 to add to the £60,000 he collected for winning the China Open. That’s an eye-watering £185,000 for less than six weeks’ work.

Despite describing himself on Twitter as “Part time snooker player, full time international playboi!!” (sic), Trump insists newspapers exaggerate his popstar lifestyle.

“I’ve still got most of (the money),” he is keen to point out. “I spent a bit on a car.” (An Audi R8, to be precise, a handy runabout.)

“A lot of the older players say the money isn’t as good as it was 20 years ago. But I think it’s brilliant.

“It’s not as high as tennis and golf but, for doing something you love, I don’t think there is anything better.”

Bristol-born Trump first picked up a cue aged three and realised he had a future in the game when he was crowned English under-15 champion at the age of ten.

Aged 14, he became the youngest player to record a maximum 147 break, beating O’Sullivan’s record.

The talented lefthander dominated the junior circuits until he turned professional at 16.

Recalling his junior days, Trump said: “I played in as many tournaments as I could and travelled the country and tried to get as much match practice as I could against the older players.

“I thought I would get onto the (Main) Tour and I thought it would be easier than it was.”

Now in his seventh season on the pro-circuit, Trump has risen to a high of seventh in the world rankings.

Critics said his progress was slow. But Trump, now 22, said he was learning his trade and too few tournaments was holding him back.

“Some people don’t realise how big the step-up is from junior level to getting one chance a frame and if you miss that’s it,” he explained.

“It’s a completely different game. It’s more safety minded, professionally, whereas the juniors like to take on their shots.

“It took me a couple of years, I’d say, to really get used to it and then the only real reason that I didn’t push on was through lack of tournaments. For the lads coming on now it’s perfect, with 19 or 20 tournaments.

“Every year I moved up 10 or 15 places (in the rankings) so it was a gradual progression up until two years ago when I only won three games and my ranking moved up three.”

This coincided with his move from Keynsham Snooker Centre – and mentor of 13 years, Derek Curnow – to his new base in Romford in November, 2009.

Trump had this advice for the south’s young players.

“Playing in the (Players Tour Championship) is unbelievable match practice. I’d have loved to have that when I was younger. You can really gauge how good you are for your age. If you can compete in them, you know you are ready to turn professional.

“The main thing is not to get too cocky and keep a level head and just keep doing what you are doing and your chance will come.

“You need a bit of self-belief. You need to walk in like you’ve got confidence and you think you’re going to win.

“You obviously don’t want to think ‘oh my God there’s Ronnie; oh my God there’s John Higgins’. You’ve got to keep thinking that you’re a better player than them.”

And does he enjoy being famous?

“When you are a snooker player, you want to be the centre of attention. So, when you do get it then you’ve just got to enjoy it,” he said, flashing that famous smile again.