The dramatic turnaround from hero to zero continued for Luca Brecel on Monday after being dumped out of the 2024 UK Championship in spherical one.
The Belgian Bullet squandered a 5-3 result in Jak Jones in York, dropping the concluding three frames to this 12 months’s World Championship runner-up.
It was on the World Championship 18 months in the past the place Brecel himself fulfilled a decade-long potential of changing into a Crucible champion.
Nonetheless simply 28 on the time, the long run seemed so shiny as he romped to a swashbuckling success in Sheffield – beating the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby en route.
In between these victories, Brecel moreover staged one of many all-time nice Crucible battle backs in his semi-final battle with Si Jiahui the place he spectacularly overturned a nine-frame deficit.
On the time, it appeared as if he might do no fallacious and his relaxed off-table life-style endeared him to many followers of the sport – each previous and new.
Brecel was being heralded as the brand new poster boy of the sport, and he was even just a few constructive outcomes shy of changing into the world primary.
Quick ahead to the current day and issues couldn’t be way more completely different.
Luca Brecel was the seventh seed on the Barbican Centre, however he has not often carried out like a high 16 competitor since these exploits on the Crucible in 2023.
Certainly, his place stays elevated solely on the again of the £500,000 winner’s prize that he earned from that Triple Crown glory.
Early exits from rating occasions have grow to be commonplace for the reason that starting of final season, with only one quarter-final look to boast about from that spell.
The result is an unpretty image being painted on the rating checklist as Brecel not solely struggles for type, however for his personal survival on the World Snooker Tour as nicely.
With the official world rankings mirrored via a rolling two-year checklist, the previous UK Championship runner-up gained’t be capable to depend on that World Championship pot of gold for lengthy.
In actual fact, when the half-million-pound sum is deducted and his provisional end-of-season tally is taken into consideration, Brecel ranks at a lowly 61 within the standings.
That’s simply three spots increased than the highest 64 cut-off level that ensures tour survival for the upcoming marketing campaign.
First-time world champions have usually struggled within the speedy aftermath of their Crucible crowning, however not often if ever has the demise been to this extent.
He has a £10,300 buffer to the participant in sixty fifth place on the provisional end-of-season rankings – Hong Kong’s Marco Fu.
But that can evaporate shortly if Brecel can’t reverse this dreadful streak of type that he’s enduring in the mean time, with solely 5 victories to his identify in rating occasions this time period.
Amongst these wins, he hasn’t crushed a single participant ranked contained in the world’s high 50.
There are nonetheless a number of occasions left on the 2024/25 calendar for Brecel to show issues round, however time is certainly not on his aspect and he hasn’t entered the upcoming Snooker Shoot Out in Leicester.
That leaves the Scottish Open as his greatest alternative in 2024 to earn rating factors, an occasion he managed to win again in 2021 when prospects for his snooker profession appeared a lot brighter.
Past that and into 2025, there ought to be possibilities on the German Masters, the Welsh Open, and the World Open.
Brecel supporters will likely be hoping that he can attain the enterprise finish in a type of occasions, as a result of the deeper into the season he will get with out security assured, the extra the stress on his shoulders will intensify.
Ought to he attain the 2025 World Championship together with his rating nonetheless hovering across the high 64 mark, there will likely be seismic consideration on the story.
Questions have been requested, by followers and pundits alike, whether or not or not Brecel has been making use of himself correctly to the game.
On the Northern Eire Open in October, he flew into Belfast from Mallorca on the day of his matches, and he’s actively pursuing a brand new aim to compete in Ironman triathlon racing.
A participant of his expertise ought to be nowhere close to the battle for tour survival, however he solely has himself guilty for being on this place – placing different pursuits earlier than these of the inexperienced baize.
“As a snooker participant, I can’t purchase into what he’s doing,” Stephen Hendry stated in an interview on a particular version of the UK Championship for Attain.
“For me, as somebody who devoted their entire life to win, I don’t perceive it. However it’s his life. Luca’s completely different to anybody else on the tour in that respect.”
Such is his pedigree, the sensible cash would nonetheless be on him turning issues round.
Even when he doesn’t, he might presumably be supplied an invitational tour card again to the professional circuit as a former world champion.
That, although, can be as emphatic and embarrassing a downfall as they arrive in sport.
2024 UK Championship draw and schedule
Spherical 1 (bo11)
Ronnie O’Sullivan 4-6 Barry Hawkins
Xiao Guodong 4-6 David Gilbert
Shaun Murphy 6-5 Zhao Xintong
Ding Junhui 6-5 Robert Milkins
Mark Selby 4-6 Jack Lisowski
Ali Carter 6-4 Ryan Day
Si Jiahui 4-6 Wu Yize
Mark Allen 6-4 Jackson Web page
Judd Trump 6-3 Neil Robertson
John Higgins 6-0 He Guoqiang
Zhang Anda 6-3 Lei Peifan
Mark Williams 5-6 Stuart Bingham
Luca Brecel 5-6 Jak Jones
Gary Wilson 1-6 Michael Holt
Chris Wakelin 6-4 Matthew Selt
Kyren Wilson 6-0 Stephen Maguire
Spherical 2 (bo11)
Occasions are in UTC
Matches will happen on Wednesday, Nov 27 and Thursday, Nov 28.
Barry Hawkins 6-5 David Gilbert
Shaun Murphy 6-5 Ding Junhui
Jack Lisowski 6-4 Ali Carter
Wu Yize 4-6 Mark Allen
Judd Trump vs John Higgins
Thursday, Nov 28 – 1pm
Zhang Anda vs Stuart Bingham
Thursday, Nov 28 – 1pm
Jak Jones vs Michael Holt
Thursday, Nov 28 – 7pm
Chris Wakelin vs Kyren Wilson
Thursday, Nov 28 – 7pm
Quarter-Finals (bo11)
Matches will happen on Friday, Nov 29.
Barry Hawkins vs Shaun Murphy
Jack Lisowski vs Mark Allen
TBC vs TBC
TBC vs TBC
Semi-Finals (bo11)
Matches will happen on Saturday, Nov 30.
Ultimate (bo19)
The match will happen on Sunday, Dec 1.
Featured picture credit score: WST
