At the young age of 25, Luca Brecel is still maturing into the sport as he finds himself cast into the spotlight whenever he competes. Prior to his career as it stands, Brecel had a very successful amateur career which has led to many presumptions about his prosperous future in snooker. And with these presumptions come along many comparisons and statements about whether he is on track and achieving what outsiders are expecting of him. Let’s go through Brecel’s accolades and experiences thus far.
Brecel played pool with his father whilst on holiday abroad which sparked his interest in the game, and following their return they would both go to the snooker club to practice. Since going to school in Belgium isn’t compulsory, Brecel was receiving his education at home, which allowed him more practice time on the table. This is when he really started to flourish in the amateur scene with numerous U-16 and U-19 victories from the age of 12.
However, it wasn’t until 2009 where people started to take notice as Brecel won impressively at the U-19 European Championship at the very young age of 14. This was a couple of years before the event changed to U-21 and included previous winners such as Mark Allen, Michael White and future opponent, Ben Woollaston. Ordinarily, this would have resulted in Brecel earning a two year tour card however, due to age restrictions he had to wait until 16 to do so, in the form of a wildcard for the 2011/12 season. He has remained on the tour ever since.
It wasn’t until late 2012 where Brecel would win his first ranking match at the UK Championship. This was following his notable qualifying success at the previous World Championship as Brecel became the youngest player to qualify for the Crucible, beating Stephen Hendry by a couple of months. Although, his time there was short-lived as Brecel struggled to qualify, not only for the Crucible, but many other tournaments for the following seasons.
But all was not lost. Brecel was able to gain a bit of steam as he reached the semi-finals of the Welsh Open in 2015 (the furthest he has made it in a tournament; he had only reached a quarter-final once before this) and the final of the German Masters in 2016, where he lost out to Martin Gould 9-5. He also reached the final of the Shootout that year, living up to his ‘Belgian Bullet’ moniker. This, along with better performances in the following seasons saw Brecel steadily climb the rankings until he finally reached the Top 16 in 2018.
This rise to the Ranking Promised Land was primarily aided by Brecel’s maiden ranking title at the China Championship in 2017 where he performed well against established winner, Shaun Murphy. Following this victory, Brecel has reached a few more semi-finals, as well as qualify for main stage Crucible where he has yet to win a match. The closest Brecel has come to a second round match was in 2017 (click here to read that Instant Classic where he was 7-1 up) and 2019 where he lost 10-9 on both occasions. Although, his remarkable performance and triumph at the recent Champions League may just give Brecel the confidence boost he needs to venture deep at the Crucible.
Known as the Belgian Bullet due to his fast and powerful pots, Brecel has demonstrated his talent on the table. He now finds himself with the task of honing in that talent along with a few technical tweaks, such as his recent shortening of the bridge hand, in order to collect a few more ranking titles. *A successful venture to at least the quarter-finals of the World Championship would benefit Brecel’s current rank tremendously, but would still require some work in the following season to climb back to the Top 16.
So when people criticise Brecel for ‘under-achieving’ at his age, is that a fair statement? Definitely not. Sure, there are some that can win a ranking event or two at a young age but that isn’t the defining part of a successful career. We’re witnessing many players that are peaking at a mature age and Brecel still has plenty of time to really knuckle down and focus on his concentration and confidence. There have been many occasions in matches where Brecel has built a healthy lead but lost focus as he allowed his opponents to claw back. Once Brecel is able to build a mental fortress, who knows what his limits are?
*This Short was written prior to the World Snooker Championship 2020
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