Wu Yize has struggled for results so far as world champion after conquering the Crucible in May and Judd Trump is not too surprised.
The 22-year-old sensationally won the World Championship earlier this year, beating Shaun Murphy 18-17 in a classic final in Sheffield.
It was not entirely out of the blue as the Chinese star was a top 16 seed for the event having won the International Championship last season, but it was something of a shock as he downed the likes of Mark Selby and Mark Allen on his way to the final.
The dashing young talent is now dealing with the pressure and expectation of being world champion and a superstar in his homeland, where snooker is extremely popular.
His first event of the season actually went quite well, with a run to the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters, but there have been early exits since then.
Wu has lost in the early stages of the China Open, Wuhan Open and British Open to Dave Gilbert, Artemijs Zizins and Kyren Wilson respectively and hopes to improve his fortunes at the English Open in Brentwood this week.
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Trump did not have such problems when he won the World Championship in 2019, winning six ranking titles as world champion and the first in August that year, but recognises that it is an entirely different challenge for Wu.
The Englishman was 29 when he beat John Higgins in the Sheffield final and did not have the weight of a nation like China on his shoulders when he did.
Looking back on his time as world champion, Trump told Metro: ‘Yeah, I got off to an unbelievable start, I think, and put it to bed straight away.
‘When I won the World Championship I felt so confident. I felt like I was never going to miss again and it showed in the season after.
‘But I feel like it can also go the other way because you’re on such a high after the World Championship and you’re probably not going to put in as much work as you need to. I felt like I really knuckled down for one month before the first event because I felt like I had something to prove.
‘I think maybe it’s such a big deal in China. I think maybe they [Wu and 2025 world champion Zhao Xintong] have got a little bit more distracted than I did and maybe done a lot more work with sponsors and stuff like that. Whereas I didn’t really do that.
‘I just felt like winning at 29, I was helped because I kind of knew what I had to do in that position.
‘Whereas I think when you’re young, when you’re 22 or whatever, it’s a lot different. You can get a lot more carried away and kind of believe all the hype.
‘But he’ll be back. He’s too good a player. I’m sure he’ll do what Xintong did. He’ll win a couple in a row when he does come back.’
Zhao did indeed have a slow start to his season as world champion in 2025/26, but when he settled he really settled, winning the World Grand Prix, Players Championship and Tour Championship.
Trump came close to winning the world title at an even younger age than Wu, when he lost 18-15 to Higgins in the 2011 Crucible final at just 21 years old.
He holds no regrets on that final, saying: ‘I just feel like when I look back, everything happens for a reason. I feel like that was probably the best result that I didn’t win it.
‘I think I would have been in the position where I would have got a bit carried away and felt like that I was the best player in the world too early. I shouldn’t have been thinking that at the time because it’s only one event.
‘I would have loved to have won it and been up there with one of the youngest players ever, but I just feel like it wasn’t my path in snooker.’