Unlike to many to have come before him, Trump has suffered no hangover from winning his first World Championship title and victories at the International Championship, World Open and Northern Ireland Open already this term have seen him move further clear at the top of the world rankings.
The last two of those victories came in the middle of a real purple patch that saw Trump reach three finals in as many weeks but just as his star had risen to even greater heights, his fortunes took a slight nosedive before Christmas.
That aforementioned shock defeat at the hands of Bond in York was followed by a quarter-final loss at the subsequent Scottish Open and while those results shouldn't be the cause of too much concern, his defeat to Ian Burns in qualifying for the European Masters soon after was a major setback.
Whether Trump's heavy workload before Christmas finally caught up with him remains to be seen - and a good break over the festive period ought to help in that respect - but one has to wonder whether Trump now being the most coveted scalp on the tour has played a part, too.
In the opening match of Trump's successful defence of the Northern Ireland Open earlier in the campaign, James Cahill produced his most polished performance of the season to take that match down to the wire while Bond and Burns found their very best form to defeat Trump recently and claim their biggest victories in quite some time.
Robertson's memorable victory over Trump in the Champion of Champions final was by far and away the best snooker he has produced this term while O'Sullivan found something close to his peak form in his meeting with Trump in Belfast.
Wherever there is a King there is usually someone close by waiting to dethrone him and there is no doubt that some are being inspired when taking on the world champion and current world number one.
There is also the possibility that Trump himself might just be feeling the added pressure of knowing he is now strong favourite at every event he enters.
Trump doesn't appear to be the kind of character to be fazed by such expectation - so much has been expected of him from a young age - while his maturity and cool head has impressed everyone connected with the sport in the last year or so, but it would be naive to think he no longer feels pressure or is not at all weighed down by the heavy level of expectation he, himself, places on his shoulders.
Trump is well aware that these are the years where he can truly leave his stamp on the sport, add his name to the list of great players to have come before him, and amass the large number of titles that the likes of O'Sullivan and John Higgins have already managed to do.
O'Sullivan's absence in London will only serve to increase that sense of opportunity but with it comes heightened expectation. How he copes with that will go a long way to deciding the fate of his Masters defence.
I'm sure we've been here before.
In fact, in the years preceding his third World Championship victory in the 2018, Mark Williams was close to calling time on a decorated career, so bad had his slump in form been and so barren had the big wins become.
When Williams lifted the Northern Ireland Open trophy aloft at the end of 2017, it was the first time he had tasted ranking-title success since 2011, and it kick-started a dramatic return to the top of the sport that culminated in him beating John Higgins at the Crucible the following spring.
Last season was less prolific, but he still managed to taste victory at the World Open, while he made four more quarter-finals.
This term he has found things much tougher, however, a run to the final of the International Championship the only highlight in a campaign that has seen him suffer a number of early exits.
His decision not to defend his World Open crown certainly raised a few eyebrows and when, by his own admission, he produced a dismally poor performance to lose to Michael White at the UK Championship in December, his earlier threat to walk away from the game appeared very close to becoming reality.
Nevertheless, we have been here before with Williams and his 2018 World Championship win - some 15 years after his previous Crucible triumph - shows that this truly great player can never be written off.
Furthermore, Williams looked much more like his old self when qualifying for the European Masters and German Masters just before Christmas to ignite hopes of yet another resurgence from the Welshman.
At 44 years of age, Williams is fighting against Father Time but he will be hopeful of proving more than a match for Stuart Bingham in their first-round clash at The Masters before dreaming of the type of deep run he enjoyed when winning this prestigious event in 1998 and 2003.
Time stops for no man but Mark Williams might not be done with just yet.