by “To be honest, I don’t know what he is doing with his career … I have no idea,” said Stephen Hendry in this Snooker season when he tried to assess Luca Brecel since he overtook the world championship title two years ago.
They may remember that Brecel is the extravagant “Belgian ball”, which compared the comparison with Alex Higgins and Jimmy White for the Swashbicklingart and wise that he became Snooker’s first world champion from continental Europe.
It was associated with the fact that his crime for his game against Rickie Walden arrived in the first round after not taking up his cue for more than three weeks. During the tournament, he drove home three times to Belgium, which included an ubiquitous drinking session between dramatic victories against Mark Williams and Ronnie O’Sullivan before scored the largest Crocible comeback in the semi-finals to revise a 14-5 deficit to Si Jiahui. The Granitmark Selby was then properly sent in a spectacular last day of the tournament in the final in the final.
It felt like the start of a new era in snooker. But Brecel has not won another tournament since then. He has dropped to 42nd place on the one-year world rankings and seems to have made more headlines lately to complete an Ironman triathlon than anything else on a snooker table.
And what did he do to paraphrase Hendry? “I was probably in the Majorca cycling in the sun,” says Brecel and saw his arrival in Sheffield against Ryan Day brown, trimmed and completely relaxed before his first round.
It should be emphasized that Hendry is one of his biggest fans – he says that Brecel Snooker “plays as it should be played”, but generally seems to be amazed by his prospects. As is well known, Hendry has used seven -hour practice layers and apologized that the winning before anything came in his life.
Brecel smiles when I suggest that other players don’t seem to understand his relaxed view. “I’m the same,” he says, “I can’t understand it, so it’s normal. You are so different from me; you always want to win, win, win.
“I am not connected to the win. If I lose, it’s okay, I’m going home. I have a good life. You shouldn’t worry about me. If you attach too much to it, you will get pressure.”
“I can play badly and then suddenly don’t miss five frames.”
It is a view that has informed a brand of Snooker that can even make O’Sullivan or Judd Trump appear positively carefully. “There is no one like me – nobody plays the game like me,” says Brecel. “I play very open, very attacker. I like to take crazy pictures. Even if I miss them, it’s still good. All other players may be a little too much pressure on themselves – play as if it were life or death.
“I play differently. I always enjoy it if it is not too serious. I always loved to see Ronaldinho football. I have to stay interested. Some players may be a bit boring. We have to keep it entertaining. I will always play like this, I see no reason to change it. It is the perfect way to play this game.”
Brecel certainly pressed both O’Sullivan and Hendry in the appreciation of his shot finding. O’Sullivan immediately told him that he was good enough to win the tournament when he won seven frames in the quarterfinals in 2023 in a row to transform a 10: 6 deficit into a win of 13: 10 within just 89 minutes. “I love watching him – it is only the dull when he hits the ball,” said O’Sullivan. Hendry described Brecel’s deep screw from a brown along the pillow of the Masters in January as one of the best shots he had ever seen in almost 50 years to play and observe snooker.
“Cue Power is a big deal – if you have that, you can do so many things with the CUE ball,” explains Brecel. “You are not really limited, it is fun. I just like to play shots with shooting, a lot of side. I keep it fun. I can do things that nobody else can do, even Judd Trump. Maybe I should sometimes film in practice. I do some crazy things.”
But is an all-out attack really the most effective game to play? “Yes, in the long term because they will easily win games,” he says. “As soon as I settled [in a match]It feels like practice and it’s a nice feeling. You have more chances of playing well and entertaining the crowd. If I don’t play well, you have simple chances against me. I will take the consequences. I can play bad for three frames and then suddenly I can’t miss five frames.
“It is always unpredictable, but my career is good so far. I am happy where I am. The way I won it was something special … pretty unbelievable. I don’t think it will ever happen again, as I did. Crazy comebacks, big breaks, crazy routes … good memories.”
Brecel now shares his life outside of tournaments between his house on the Belgian border and Mallorca “A beautiful island with beautiful people”, where he loves to spend long days with cycling and running. It is up to 100 km on the bike and runs up to 15 km, but says that the Ironman itself (2.4 miles swimming pool, 112 -mile cycle, 26.2 -mile run) is “not a big goal”, but more about the associated advantages. “It is more important to me to lose a little weight, to lose a little weight, that is more important to me,” he says, comparing it with a form of mindfulness.
Brecel will travel to Belgium again between the games, as long as he was a journey of nine hours over the canal tunnel at this year’s World Cup. He even flew from Belfast to Majorca and back between the games this season in the Northern Ireland Open so that he could get off his bike in the sun. He still has the Ferrari he bought when he triumphed in 2023, but his father Carlo drives most of the and tournaments. “I’ll be bored when I stay here [in Sheffield]”, Says Brecel.” I just like to be at home near my friends. I still have to have something in my life. I prefer that – it’s not a big deal, just a long drive. If I win it, I just go home and the next day the same will be the same as yesterday. “
And what is an average day at home in Belgium?
“Always the same, very cooled; wake up, take a coffee, run or cycle, go to my parents house, have a small soup, then I go to some friends, eat a few darts. Always fun.”
Where does snooker fit? “Maybe after my coffee, maybe play an hour or two. I just play if I want. I have played every day in the past few months. No reason. I just like to play and I enjoy it. I feel close to my best – I just don’t show it on the match table, but that will come.
“When I was younger, I was bad when I lost”
Brecel played Snooker at the age of nine in the Snooker Sports Club in the middle of Maasmechelen, a city of around 40,000 people with a strong story before devoting up to 12 hours a day to practice in his teenagers. At the age of 13 he was good enough to make a total release during an exhibition against Hendry, the only contribution of which was his demolition. Brecel was the latest Crucible debutant shortly after his 17th birthday in 2012. But he didn’t have the effect that had to struggle with fear that would hyperventilate him. In his seven previous visits to the melting, six defeats in the first round next to this were a magical run to the title.
“When I was younger, I used to be pretty bad when I lost, but now because you know how well you can play, you are not really worried,” he says. “You want to prove yourself if you are young. You want to know: ‘Am I good enough to play this game?” Brecel is now playing the party-animally picture that was created after his title victory in 2023-“I might have interpreted two nights between the games, but I don’t drink much … some cocktails from time to time, some beers” and emphasized that he simply holds in the perspective of the snooker.
“Even when the draw was complete, I woke up and totally forgot,” he says. “My father suddenly said:” You play Ryan Day “, and of course I was” the draw was done today “. That’s how I live. I like to play … I love to practice. And I look at. I think it is calming to see the games.”
After the world’s snooker ranking is operated in a rolling two-year cycle in accordance with Prize money, the first price of Brecel 500,000 GBP from 2023 will soon be removed from this calculation and replaced by everything that it manages in the next two 12 days. A drastic ranking in the ranking looks very likely, but when Brecel is only 30 years old last month, it is convinced that this would only be temporary. “The easiest is to obviously win this tournament,” he says. “If not, I have to play qualifications next year. It will be difficult, but of course I will return to the top 16.
“I know that I am good enough, it’s just about showing up and concentrating. In recent years I have really lived from ‘Eco’ … How very low energy. I always feel pretty flat on the table. Maybe older, just happy from the table. I tried to be really motivated.
“That is the difference. Other players want to play well, but they don’t. I know if I want to play well, I will play pretty well. I won’t worry.”
