Judd Trump has followed in the footsteps of Ronnie O’Sullivan by moving to Hong Kong, where he now lives with his girlfriend. The 35-year-old was born in Bristol and recently had a new house built in the area but has decided to turn his back on the UK.
It comes after O’Sullivan took up residency in Hong Kong, with The Rocket granted permission to settle in the city through a migrant scheme. He cited the ‘low tax’ as one of the factors in his decision to move there, in addition to the food and culture.
Trump also resides in Hong Kong with his girlfriend Maisy Ma, a figure skater who presented at the Olympic Games and has over 180,000 followers on Instagram.
Opening up on his new life in an interview with The Sun, Trump explained that he chose to leave the UK because he realised that he no longer enjoyed living there.
He said: “My travel plans are maybe a little bit different now than they were in the past 34 years. There has been a lot of time spent in Hong Kong and Dubai.
“I’m happy travelling around the world, spending as little time in the UK as possible at the moment because I don’t really enjoy it as much there anymore. While I’m still reasonably young, I’m trying to make sure I have a good time off the table as well.
“I think it’s easier knowing that I don’t have the old 20-hour journey home. That helps me. I think I will be based in the Middle East now rather than in the UK. I don’t feel like you have to play in the UK anymore full-time. I really don’t.”
Trump added that while he is missed by his family, the benefits of living in Hong Kong outweigh the costs when it comes to his snooker career.
“My mum misses me,” he said. “I’m not sure about my dad! At least he gets to watch me on the TV. They will always be at the big events in the UK. It’s nice to go back and see them.
“While I’m playing well, I have to knuckle down and do what is best. Spending a lot of time in Asia before events is probably best for my snooker at the moment. It’s definitely beneficial to be away from the UK.
“Now I’m coming up with the UK Championship and the Masters, then probably not, but for the first half of the season the events are probably nowhere as big as the rest of the world.
“Maybe it’s time for some of the players to get up and leave and give their all to snooker. There are a lot bigger events worldwide now. I enjoy my snooker while I’m in warm weather around the world rather than at home.”
