Broadcaster Rolf Kalb jokingly posed that question to Judd Trump after he was again successful at the German Masters in Berlin on Sunday.
“This is your fourth German Masters title. When will you buy a house in Berlin?” Kalb asked Trump, much to the amusement of a packed Tempodrom crowd.
Trump’s domination of the German Masters is something to behold. He’s been champion four times in the Twenties now – in 2020, 2021 (behind closed doors in Milton Keynes), 2024 and 2026.
As I wrote in a Sporting Life column a year ago after attending the tournament for the first time, there’s something very special about the Tempodrom and its enthusiastic, noisy atmospheres. Trump seems to thrive in such settings.
In a week that was dominated by one-sided matches in Berlin, Trump only had one encounter where it felt like he was really pushed – his quarter-final against Xiao Guodong.
Wuhan Open champion Xiao was very strong in that match and led Trump 3-2, before the Bristol man stepped up a gear when it mattered most, with breaks of 105, 53, and 69 to claim a 5-3 victory.
Trump’s semi-final against Ali Carter didn’t greatly trouble him, winning it 6-2, and then came a final against another big beast Shaun Murphy, who had probably played the best snooker during the week.
It was a curious affair. It felt closer than Trump’s six-frame margin of victory. But Trump produced more in the key moments, kept pinching close frames and the trophy was his with a 10-4 victory.
It’s hard to argue in some ways that Trump isn’t still the pre-eminent force in snooker. He remains the world number one by a distance after all.
Yet surprisingly, this was his first tournament victory for 14 months, since he claimed the UK Championship in York in December 2024.
He has never been far away mind – indeed, only recently he was narrowly defeated by Mark Selby in the UK final, and then somehow managed to lose a Masters semi-final to John Higgins that he was in control of. Nobody really thought the Trump drought would go on that much longer.
What can he do now do for the rest of the season? Trump has always been something of a purple patch player and this is an ideal time to feel confident and get yourself on a roll.
Sheffield and the World Championship is now just a couple of months away. And the whole of the Players Series is to come too, starting this week with the World Grand Prix in Hong Kong.
At a time when predicting tournaments is harder than ever – remarkably, Trump’s success made it 15 different ranking tournament winners in a row, going back nearly a year – we’re waiting for that one player to put his head above the parapet again.
Trump said after the final on Sunday night that he feels it’s been one of his “better seasons” – clearly believing he could have won more than one tournament so far – and he also had these words that will be sobering for his rivals.
“I don’t think I’m far away from my best and if I can get a couple more coming in from here, then it’ll be a very good season,” he said.
Trump has got that winning feeling again. And boy, does that make him dangerous.
O’Sullivan wants world title number eight but did not impress in Germany
In contrast to Trump, Ronnie O’Sullivan looked miles off it in Berlin, especially when losing 5-3 to Ali Carter in the second round.
There’s obviously nobody like O’Sullivan when he’s at his inspirational best, but it’s clearly going to be harder to deliver the goods in your fifties with limited match play in the locker.
Carter’s words after the match were really interesting: “It’s great for the fans to see Ronnie, but it wasn’t enjoyable in the end to see him not really enjoy it.
“The heat of the battle is what we all play for, but I suppose he’s in a different stage of his career right now.”
O’Sullivan may not have impressed on the table, but he did say one thing off it that raised the eyebrows, stating very clearly that his one last ambition in the sport was to win an eighth world title.
I’ve been asking my Radio Snooker listeners whether they think O’Sullivan will win number eight. I have to admit, it’s a proper ponderable for me. I don’t even have a gut feeling about it.
Logically, you’d have to say it’s odds against now. But since when has sport been just about logic? Especially when we’re talking about a genius like O’Sullivan.
The finding out will certainly be fun for all of us who love the game. One thing is for sure – nobody would ever dare rule it out.