After 17 days of crunching pots, of the crisp sound of phenolic resin against leather, and totally unconstrained snooker, Luca Brecel was crowned champion.
The Belgian had exploded across the tournament like a comet, producing some of the most blistering form ever seen en route to winning the World Snooker Championship. Never has a first-time champion risen to the fore with such swagger. This was 22nd Century snooker.
Sometimes, one player’s name is just written on the trophy — their destiny vouchsafed before a ball has even been struck. From the moment Brecel overturned a 10-6 deficit against defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan to win 13-10 in the quarter-finals, it felt as though the 28-year-old was this year’s chosen one.
That same feeling was tangible in the semi-finals. 14-5 against Chinese debutant Si Jiahui, there looked to be no way back for Brecel, but after a stunning comeback which included a run of 11 consecutive frames, the Belgian hard earned his place in the final.
Brecel was riding the crest of a wave, and not even one of the toughest Crucible opponents in the history of the game could stop him. Despite a strong fightback from 15-10 down, Mark Selby couldn’t match Brecel’s level in the final, an 18-15 win was enough to make him the first man from continental Europe to win the World Championship.
Brecel’s success this year is made all the more impressive by the fact that he had never even won a match at the Crucible before this year. Five first-round defeats defined a torrid record, and no one would have bet on him to lift the trophy anytime soon. But once Brecel got over that initial hurdle, edging past Ricky Walden 10-9 in the first round, there was no looking back.
He is a player for whom expectations have weighed heavily over the years. He burst onto the scene more than a decade ago, becoming the youngest-ever player to qualify for the World Championship back in 2012, before breaking into the top 16 and winning his maiden ranking event at the 2017 China Championship. The following years saw him struggle with confidence issues, cue troubles, and a lack of motivation, leading to a drop down the world rankings to as low as 38th in the 2019-20 season.
But for a couple of years now, Brecel’s game has been trending in the right direction. He came out of the Covid-enforced lockdown with a win in the 2020 Championship league, before reaching the final of the 2021 UK Championship and winning the Scottish Open a week later. This latest victory takes him to number two in the world, within touching distance of the summit of the sport. After some ups and downs, Brecel now has the snooker world at his feet.
To win the World Championship in such barnstorming fashion will have earned Brecel a lot of fans, and he can be sure of a rapturous reception when he returns for the 2023-24 campaign. He maintains he did not practice ahead of the tournament, instead choosing to go out partying with friends in an attempt to ease the pressure before snooker’s showpiece event. You can’t argue with the results.
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