Snooker star told to get 'drunk as hell' again to usurp Ronnie O'Sullivan at the Crucible
An unorthodox method has been recommended to one World Snooker Championship star.
Luca Brecel has been urged to repeat his routine from last year to defend the World Snooker Championship title, even if that means getting “drunk as hell” again. The Belgian Bullet opens the 2024 tournament against David Gilbert in a bid to snap the ‘Crucible curse’.
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The title has only been successfully retained twice this century, with Brecel aiming to join Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby, after putting the Jester from Leicester away in last year’s final.
And Brecel admitted that en route to the 2023 final he drove back to Belgium between matches to spend time with his friends, which included going out until the early hours of the morning and excessive drinking.
“Before the tournament I was out partying, staying up late to 6 or 7am, playing FIFA with my friends, not practising,” Brecel told the BBC after knocking O’Sullivan out. “Even after I beat Mark Williams (in the second round) I got home at 7am by car, and then we went out again until 5 or 6 in the morning, drunk as hell. The next day, I had to drive back up again, so it’s a totally different preparation, and it’s working.”
Brecel’s unusual approach helped him not only claim a maiden win in Sheffield, but win the entire tournament, and six-time champion Steve Davis believes that the Belgian star should not change his working approach 12 months later.
“It helps (playing on the opening day) you have a lot of room until your next matches,” Davis said. “And I would like to be the first person to get the snooker bingoists out of the way by mentioning the Crucible curse, tick.
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“OK, is Luca Brecel going to be the first player to break that curse? It’s unlikely because it is so tough and if he stops going back to Belgium and going nightclubbing in between rounds, doesn’t have a drink, he’s got no chance, he’s got to do exactly the same.”
However, the 29-year-old has already insisted that he is unlikely to continue making the long car journey back to Belgium to drink throughout the World Championship. "I’ve never done it before and I’m never going to do it again because actually I don’t really drink much, I don’t like partying, I love being at home, a chilled life,” he told the Metro.
“That was just a strange phase in my life. I don’t know how I did it, especially over 17 days. If it was a four-day tournament then you could get away with but I don’t know how I kept it going for the whole tournament. I played really well in every game…it’s strange, very strange."
