LUCA BIDS TO MASTER HIS CRISIS
WORLD champion Luca Brecel has revealed he is suffering a crisis of confidence ahead of his quest for a maiden Masters crown this week.
The Belgian Bullet lit up the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield last year to win snooker’s top prize, but he has never yet got past the quarter-finals at the Masters.
The prestigious 16-player invitational tournament kicks off at London’s Alexandra Palace today, concluding next Sunday, with a tasty £250,000 first prize on offer.
“The Masters is a good chance to prove that you’re the best player, but the way I’m playing at the moment is just not good enough,” admitted Brecel, who faces England’s Jack Lisowski in the opening match of the 2024 renewal this afternoon.
“I’m low on confidence and it’s a thing that I’ve never really suffered with before. It might be something about my technique or something else, but I’m feeling low on confidence. “It just feels like everyone’s playing really well against me now. But I think that’s normal when you’re the world champion – everyone’s really focused and wants to beat you. “I expect that – and that’s why I need to play better than I am. “It seems like there’s a target on my back because I’m that world champion and that’s probably the way the other players look at it. “I need to get used to that – and raise my game.” Defending champion Judd Trump beat Welshman Mark Williams 10-8 in last year’s final and returns to Ally Pally brimming with confidence having won three tournaments already this season and reached two other finals. The Juddernaut, a two-time Masters champion, plays Kyren Wilson on Tuesday, while record seven-time Masters winner Ronnie O’sullivan faces China’s Ding Junhui tomorrow afternoon. All the Masters matches are best-of-11 frames, until the bestof-19 final showdown.