AWhen the ticker tape started to movement down over Luca Brecel’s head on Monday night in Sheffield, it was once tricky to not see it as symbolizing the converting of the guard for snooker. The new global champion definitely navigated his street to victory on the Crucible his personal means, with a logo of attacking snooker normally handiest limited to at least one guy: Brecel’s hero, Ronnie O’Sullivan.
For years, snooker has trusted O’Sullivan to give you the leisure. Even now as he approaches 50, O’Sullivan stays the undisputed face of the game. Inside and out of doors of the Crucible this yr, there have been footage of the seven-time champion of the arena in every single place you appeared. The World Snooker Tour’s media group covered a hall close to the clicking middle with cuttings from the protection right through the event: maximum of them featured O’Sullivan in some structure.
Snooker desperately wishes a brand new entertainer and a brand new personality, and the whole lot about Brecel suggests he’s the solution. For starters, the 28-year-old is the youngest global champion since Australia’s Neil Robertson, additionally 28, again in 2010.
Then there’s the reality Brecel is roofed in tattoos, together with considered one of rapper The Game, the reality he speaks effusively about his need to birthday celebration fairly than observe; in spite of everything, he claimed he spent quarter-hour working towards within the 3 weeks previous to this event, opting to play darts as an alternative. He appears to be like, and feels, like one thing other. Something thrilling for the sport to embody.
His perspective and magnificence of play have drawn comparisons to the sport’s nice mavericks together with Alex Higgins and, unsurprisingly, O’Sullivan – who showered reward upon Brecel on social media on Monday night when he defeated Mark Selby.
“That’s amazing, it’s a huge compliment,” Brecel stated of the comparisons. “That’s the way I want to play, I want to be entertaining. I don’t think winning is the most important thing. It’s great to see the crowds enjoying it.”
Belgium has produced world-renowned sporting superstars before, but the fact Brecel can now be mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Eddy Merckx and Kim Clijsters as someone who has scaled the mountain in their sport offers hope of a boom for snooker in mainland Europe. Brecel is only the fourth player in modern history from outside the United Kingdom to win the world title and the first from mainland Europe. The Belgian media in Sheffield insisted that the buzz back home suggests an explosion of snooker in the country is imminent.
In truth, a player winning the world title who can at least sit alongside O’Sullivan in terms of wanting to entertain people and put bums on seats will have a far wider reach than one country alone. Brecel, who predicted he’d win the world title when he was 15 years of age and, as such, has never been short of confidence, knows that all too well. “My style can have an impact on the way the game is played, definitely,” he says.
“It’s been an incredible world championship. I’ve played my best stuff here. It’s the style the people want to see. I don’t want to sound cocky, but I think I’m a nice world champion if you like, because I play the game in a very attacking way. It’s not always going to work because I’ll miss shots and leave my opponent easy chances, but if it works it’s fascinating to watch.”
Brecel’s style has earned him plenty of admirers across the last 17 days. The impact his victory could have not gone unnoticed among some of the game’s greats, too, with the six-time Crucible champion Steve Davis admitting on Monday evening: “Young players will be looking at that and saying: ‘That’s the way to play That’s the way to win. Don’t hang around, don’t study every shot, see the shot, go for it, trust your first instincts. He’s the first player who has led from the front relentlessly so it could make a difference, maybe the old style is ever so slightly changing.”
Brecel will go back to Belgium to a media frenzy and can get a brief damage sooner than the brand new snooker season starts in the summertime. The hype again house can be felt instantly however, additional afield, there might be quite a lot of long-term advantages from a tender, thrilling participant who is going about his trade his personal means, very a lot in opposition to the grain, successful snooker’s largest prize.