Chinese snooker superstar duo both projected to be world number ones this coming season

Judd Trump has been professional snooker’s world number one for nearly two years now, but his time at the top of the tree is under serious threat as several players behind him will be within striking distance.

Trump’s latest stint at the head of the global standings began in August 2024 when he took over the revered position from Mark Allen - the first Northern Irishman to earn the accolade.

The 36-year-old starts the new World Snooker Tour term nearly £450,000 clear of second-placed Neil Robertson, but the rankings picture could look very different by the end of the calendar year.

‘The Ace in the Pack’ has £500,000 set to be removed from his two-year rolling total due to winning the 2024 Saudi Arabia Masters title. And with that tournament now scrapped from the circuit, Trump can not defend that huge amount from his rankings tally in one go.

Over the coming months, former World Champion Trump has other significant chunks of prize money due to drop off his total: £76,000 from the 2024 Xi'an Grand Prix, £45,000 from the 2024 Northern Ireland Open, and £250,000 from the 2024 UK Championship.

The players most likely to usurp Trump will be either Australian Robertson - who was last world number one in January 2015 - or China's Zhao Xintong, who has never been world number one.

Going into the new top tier season, only £34,000 separates second-placed Robertson and third-placed Zhao in the rankings. However, Zhao - who only returned full-time to the professional circuit last season - has just £10,000 to defend from his total up until the 2027 World Snooker Championship.

In comparison, Robertson has £50,000 (2024 Saudi Arabia Masters) and £100,000 (2024 English Open) to defend in the coming months, and £180,000 (2025 World Grand Prix) to be removed later in the campaign.

Altogether, unless either Trump or Robertson win multiple big-money titles - 2025 World Snooker Champion Zhao seems very likely to become the world number one at some point in 2026.

Last season whilst wearing the world crown, Zhao overcame a frustrating start by memorably winning all three Players Series event titles - the first player to achieve that impressive feat within the same term.

Recently, the sport’s governing body the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) released this season’s provisional rankings lists which include the qualification races for the Masters invitational, and top 16 seeding at the Crucible for the World Championship.

If we go by the current 'Race to the Masters' projections, Zhao Xintong will be world number one at the start of 2027, with Robertson in second, and Trump in sixth.

Looking further ahead by a few months, going into the 2027 World Snooker Championship Zhao is projected to have a significant advantage at the top, but by this point, it is new World Champion Wu Yize who is provisionally second - meaning a potential historic one-two for China.

Elsewhere in these projected standings, Kyren Wilson - who last season was aiming to become world number one - is positioned in 22nd.

Another changing picture; could Wu Yize become snooker’s world number one?

When it does come to the 2027 World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, though, the scenario changes as Zhao will be defending the £500,000 he scooped for his history-making glory in 2025.

So much can change this intriguing campaign, and it's important to remember that both the UK and World Championships have prize money increases for their next editions, but Wu is currently the provisional end of season world number one.

Never before did China have two players ranked inside the world’s top four at the same time until the start of this season (Zhao in third, Wu in fourth). Ding Junhui is the only Chinese, and Asian, player to climb to the top of the world snooker rankings, although his time at the summit was super brief - for one week in December 2014, and for two weeks across January/February 2015.

Within the next year, China could have had two new world number ones, and the top two players in the standings - further confirming a shifting picture in the sport, and the Far East country being its new powerhouse.