Luca Brecel has silenced his doubters with a stellar performance at the Welsh Open.
The Belgian has tumbled down the rankings since beating Mark Selby in the 2023 World Championship final and has even been in danger of losing his tour card. But Brecel and Selby will meet again in the last four in Llandudno for the right to face Ali Carter or Stephen Maguire in Sunday’s final.
It will be the 29-year-old’s first ranking semi-final since his stunning Crucible triumph. Brecel has admitted to not dedicating as much time to snooker as he could. Amid interests outside of the sport, he has been known to fly in and out of matches during tournaments while he is also training to be an Ironman triathlete.
However, his form is going in the right direction this season. Speaking to Eurosport during the Welsh Open, Brecel declared: “When I turn up at tournaments now, I really want to go deep.
“Before, if I wasn’t in a really good place, I wanted to go home. Now I want to win the tournament. It’s fantastic to be in the mix again.”
His laid-back attitude since the world championship final victory over Selby has puzzled many, including snooker legend Stephen Hendry. Ahead of the UK Championship, Hendry said: “As a snooker player, I cannot buy into what he’s doing, flying in from Majorca between matches and stuff. But then, I don’t know what his priorities in life are. Maybe snooker isn’t his priority anymore, and you’ve got to respect that.”
“You could criticise if he wants to win snooker tournaments, because that’s not the way to do it. But if he’s not bothered whether he wins or loses, if he wants to do this Ironman stuff and play snooker as a hobby, then good luck to him.
YOUR TURN! Who are you tipping to win the Welsh Open? Tell us in the comments section.
“For me, as someone who dedicated their whole life to win, I don’t understand it. But it’s his life. Luca’s different to anyone else on the tour in that respect.”
Previously, Hendry was even more critical of Brecel’s approach, saying: “We gave [Brecel] a pass for the first part of last season, being the world champion, maybe he was getting used to the pressure, the expectations and everything. But that’s gone now.
“I honestly don’t know what he’s doing with his career. I haven’t got a clue. I see him a lot on Instagram, he’s riding his bike all over the place, he’s going out to dinners with his girlfriend, he seems to be having a lovely time.
“What is he doing with his career? That’s what I would ask him if he was sat opposite me now. I’d ask him what’s going on, because I don’t know.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan has also had his say on Brecel’s perceived lack of commitment, advising: “Even Usain Bolt had to put a lot of training in if he wanted to win medals, and he is probably the most talented, gifted specimen of a sportsman there has ever been.
“Luca has to make his own mind up and where he wants to go in the game. The one thing I will say is rankings are not that important. When you have that amount of talent, if you decide to put the work in, you will win tournaments. The ball is in his court and only Luca can make those decisions.”
If Brecel beats Selby this time around, he’ll climb into the top 32 on the one-year ranking list and land a spot at the World Grand Prix in Hong Kong next month. Meanwhile, winning the Welsh Open title would see him pocket a whopping £250,000 – £100,000 for the win and an additional £150,000 for topping the leaderboard in this season’s Home Nations Series.
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.
