After his incredible victory at the World Snooker Championship this year, life was always going to change dramatically for Luca Brecel and he admits that is proving difficult to deal with.
The 28-year-old had never won a match at the Crucible before this year, then surged to the title, beating the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Selby and Mark Williams along the way.
A professional for over a decade and a three-time ranking event winner before that Crucible crown, it wasn’t overnight success, but the world title did fire the Belgian Bullet into a new level of fame.
One of the more relaxed and chilled out characters you will meet in professional sport, Brecel admits the huge rise in attention has even been getting to him, making it hard to concentrate on his snooker.
‘It’s so busy for me now, it’s crazy,’ Brecel told Metro.co.uk. ‘After I won the Worlds the next six weeks were not so busy actually. I was like, is this it? And then after 8-10 weeks it started coming: the interviews, exhibitions, all sorts of requests and so much attention.
‘I didn’t expect it because I thought it was gone after the Worlds but now it’s just crazy. It’s too much for me, actually.
‘That’s why it’s tough for me to focus or get up for this one [the English Open], or for any tournament really. It’s really, really tough, I need to say to myself not to miss this opportunity to play well or win a tournament. I’m just way too busy.’
Brecel was speaking after narrowly beating teenager Stan Moody 4-3 in the opening round of the English Open, relieved to win after not finding anything like his best form.
He explained that it is not just his time that he is finding tricky to manage since the world title win, but also that of his family and girlfriend.
‘It’s everything, from everywhere, every day, something new,’ he said. ‘I say no to 50 per cent, so if I would do everything I would explode, I think.
‘It’s trying to find the balance, also for my girlfriend and family because they get sucked into it and I don’t want that. I want them to have their own life and life with me. So it is tough finding a balance, I must say for me and my partner, but we’re trying to work it out.
‘I’m a world champion now and this is the year I have to try and make the most of that.
‘It comes from everywhere, but Belgium, yeah it is big. A lot of TV requests, interviews in newspapers, a lot of fun things, it’s good I do love doing it. Podcasts with famous people in Belgium, all over the world, Hong Kong, USA to play snooker, Canada, everywhere. It is a maybe too much but enjoyable also.’
Brecel may be feeling the strain off the table, but is not bothered by pressure on the baize, in fact he reckons he could do with more intensity in his games.
His remarkable victory in Sheffield has accomplished such a huge life goal that he now sees many games as a free hit, which is not necessarily a good thing.
‘I feel less pressure [since winning the Worlds]. The monkey is off my back,’ he said. ‘I always wanted to win the Worlds and I have done it, then straight away I got to the Shanghai Masters final so that was confirmation of playing well and having improved.
‘Now it feels like practice, I come here and there’s absolutely no pressure. For me there’s not much pressure but sometimes that’s a bad thing because it’s hard to get up for these games, it sounds stupid but it really is.
‘I need that buzz sometimes to get going, I only get it when I’m in the last 16 or quarter-final, I start going, but it’s something I need to learn or work on because I could have easily lost today, I should have lost actually. But it’s really tough mentally, this game sometimes.’
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