Luca Brecel plays down his 'party guy' reputation after becoming snooker's new world champion

The Belgian withstood a stirring fightback from 147 hero Mark Selby to clinch a dramatic 18-15 victory and become the first player from mainland Europe to win snooker's greatest prize.

Having incredibly won seven and 11 frames on the trot to overcome daunting deficits against Ronnie O’Sullivan and Si Jiahui respectively in the previous rounds, Brecel switched roles to fend off a late surge by the four-time champion, who began the final session 15-10 behind.

His victory made him the youngest winner since Shaun Murphy in 2005 and capped a remarkable if belated ascent from Brecel, whose outrageous promise as a junior had threatened to evaporate in a relatively frustrating few years on the professional circuit.

And it was all the more remarkable in the context of Brecel’s claims that he had come into the tournament – and squeezed past Ricky Walden in a final-frame decider in the opening round – fuelled by a regime of negligible practice, playing darts, and plenty of late-night parties that saw get 'drunk as hell'.

“It’s not going to be early but I’m not going to go wild,” insisted the new champion of his initial celebration plans - although he was later pictured sharing a dance floor drink with Selby in the early hours.

“I’m not a party guy, it’s just coincidence that it happened before this World Championship. I will probably have a couple of drinks with my family but I have got to go home tomorrow.”

Early beginnings

Brecel first clasped a cue during a family holiday in Italy at the age of nine, and upon returning to the family home in Maasmechelen he and his father sought out their closest club to nurture his early enthusiasm.

His interest in the sport sky-rocketed the following year when Brecel switched on his TV to get a taste of World Championship action for the first time – and in the very first frame he watched, Mark Williams proceeded to rifle in a 147 in his 10-1 drubbing of Robert Milkins.

“I thought I would never be able to do that,” recalled Brecel, who actually went on to do just that in a tournament in Belgium two years later, by which time his parents had taken note of his talent and knocked down a wall in order to install a full-size table in their family home.

“From then on he really started training like a man possessed – sometimes up to 15 hours a day on weekends,” his dad Carlo told Humo.

Plaudits and titles were not long in coming. Brecel beat Stephen Hendry in an exhibition in 2010, the same year in which he became Belgian senior champion for the first time at the age of just 15.

He received a wild card for the main tour in 2011, arrowing his way straight into the top 100, and the following year he fought through four qualifying rounds to become the youngest ever Crucible qualifier at the age of 17, acquitting himself well in a 10-5 first-round defeat to Stephen Maguire.

When he burst onto the Crucible stage, he was still putting in arduous hours on the practice table and had never taken so much as a sip of beer.

“I really don’t know what it tastes like,” Brecel told the Belgian website Humo at the time as he prepared to become the youngest ever player in the first round of the tournament. “It doesn’t really interest me that much.”

How things have changed.

Brecel – resplendent in knuckle tattoos reading “free bird” and “La Vida Loca” – arrived for his sixth crack at the Crucible truly off the radar – and resolutely off the practice table.

“I haven’t really practised for this tournament,” Brecel insisted after a thoroughly underwhelming 10-9 first-round win over Ricky Walden.

“I think I’ve maybe had only 15 minutes of practice in three weeks. Many people ask me why – I don’t know. I’m at home. I’ve got a good life. I do so many things in my life that I almost forget to play snooker.”

From 15-hour sessions to 15-minute fleeting visits, from soft drinks to boozy late-night sessions, Brecel has tried it all. On Monday night at the Crucible he finally alighted on a winning formula that carried him over the line and towards a lucrative and party-loving future.

Only over when it's over

The 28-year-old also admitted he felt like his late nights may eventually take their toll and never really felt like he'd become champion until the final balls were potted.

“I just didn’t fancy winning this final,” said Brecel after picking up the winner’s cheque worth £500,000. “I think it’s been too long, too much pressure, too many late nights. I had been behind in most of my games and I was expecting to go home against Ronnie and especially Si.

“Today when Mark got back from 9-5 to 9-8 I felt like I’d lost it already. I just didn’t fancy winning but if you feel like that and you still produce those breaks, I feel like I deserve it.”

Selby paid tribute to Brecel and said he would have no problem putting the defeat in perspective following his much publicised struggle with mental health concerns, while his wife Vikki is also recovering from illness.

“Some of the snooker Luca played today was incredible,” said Selby. “To be playing in his first final and to make four centuries, he just kept knocking the balls in every time he got a chance.

“Just coming out of the other side with my mental health from where I was, that’s me winning really – it’s irrelevant what else goes on because if you don’t have your health you have nothing.

“If this had been last year I wouldn’t have been able to come back from where I battled back from. As long as I keep putting the work in and my health is good, hopefully I’ve got more time.”

Related snooker links

• World Championship results
• Where are the young snooker players
• Perfect Snooker Player
• Snooker's GOAT: O'Sullivan by the numbers
• O'Sullivan: One of a kind
• History of snooker's number ones
• Watch all the Crucible 147 breaks
• History of 147 breaks
• Crucible memories: Ronnie's finest hour
• Crucible memories: Higgins denies Trump
• Crucible memories: White a People's Champion
• Crucible memories: Johnson stuns Davis
• Crucible memories: Foulds' dream debut