Steve Davis
Judd Trump
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Steve Davis leads 3 of 4 categories. Our all-time ranking places Steve Davis at #4 and Judd Trump at #9.
The case for Steve Davis
The player who made snooker a mainstream British obsession and the most complete tactician the sport has produced. Davis won six world titles (1981, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1989) from eight finals, took 28 ranking titles, and spent seven consecutive seasons as world number one through the 1980s. With six UK Championships and three Masters he finished on 15 Triple Crown titles. In 1982 he made the first maximum break shown on television, a 147 against John Spencer at the Lada Classic in Oldham. His game was built on percentages: safety of a quality no one could match, positional play that rationed opponents to a handful of chances, and an absence of unforced error that opponents found demoralising. He was also central to the sport's two most famous defeats, losing the 1985 final 18-17 on the last black to Dennis Taylor before an estimated 18.5 million British viewers, and losing to 150-1 outsider Joe Johnson in 1986.
The case for Judd Trump
The most prolific scorer of the post-Hendry generation and the player who normalised attacking snooker from impossible angles. Trump won the world title in 2019, beating John Higgins 18-9 in a final containing a record seven century breaks from the champion, and reached two other finals, in 2011 and 2022. He has passed 30 ranking titles, a total exceeded by only a handful of players in history, and became the second man after Ronnie O'Sullivan to reach 1,000 career centuries. In 2019-20 he became the second player to make 100 centuries in a single season. His Triple Crown haul includes the 2011 UK Championship and the Masters in 2019 and 2023. Trump's signature is shot selection that other professionals would refuse: pots from the cushion, deep screw shots across the table, and a willingness to attack from safety positions, married to a positional game that has grown steadily more disciplined.