Can Luca Brecel break 'infamous curse' at 'ultimate challenge' of Crucible? Dave Hendon previews World Championship
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Published 04/03/2024 at 11:30 GMT
Ronnie O'Sullivan will face a deep field of contenders as he eyes a record eighth World Championship at the Crucible, says Dave Hendon. Among them will be defending champion Luca Brecel, who stunned the snooker world last year when taking the title. But the Belgian will this year face an "infamous curse" which has seen no first-time champion ever successfully defend the title in Sheffield.
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Snooker breaks new ground today with the start of the inaugural professional event in Saudi Arabia. The Riyadh World Masters is a glitzy, big-money affair which offers a staggering $500,000 bonus for the first player who can make a 147 and then pot a specially created golden ball.
This tantalising windfall, in an event where the winner’s cheque is £250,000, will focus a few minds, as will the realisation that the greatest prize in the sport will shortly be up for grabs again.
The World Championship starts next month. Next month! Memories of Luca Brecel’s remarkable triumph last year still seem fresh, but another Crucible marathon is already beckoning.
Narratives change quickly in sport. A month ago, most seasoned pundits were calling the World Championship a straight fight between two men, the dominant players of the season. Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump have between them won eight trophies since the campaign began. But now we are into March, the picture has become more clouded.
O’Sullivan has played a canny season, picking and choosing his events. At 48, he can’t do the grind of week in, week out snooker but when he has turned up he’s been determined to do well, grafting out wins before invariably playing his best towards the end of tournaments.
He won the lucrative Shanghai Masters last September and won 16 matches in a row from November to February, encompassing his record-extending capture of an eighth UK Championship and Masters title as well as the World Grand Prix.
Then it all came to a shuddering halt. Mark Selby not only beat him but inflicted a rare whitewash on O’Sullivan in the quarter-finals of the Players Championship. The 6-0 defeat came out of the blue and reminded everyone that he is fallible.
Meanwhile, Trump went to Telford for the same event having won four ranking titles this season, appearing in a total of seven finals. He was naturally disappointed to lose 10-7 from 4-0 up to O’Sullivan in the World Grand Prix final and skipped two events, the Championship League and Welsh Open. The idea was to come back feeling fresh for the remainder of the season.
The danger with this strategy is that you lose pace on the other players. Like O’Sullivan, Trump was beaten in the Players Championship quarter-finals, 6-4 by Ali Carter.
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This was only one tournament, but defeats for both was a reminder that there are more than two players capable of taking the spotlight if these celebrated leading men fluff their lines.
Step forward Mark Allen, the eventual winner in Telford. This was Allen’s third title of the season and sixth since the start of the 2022/23 campaign.
The Northern Irishman has become very tough to beat, sacrificing some fluency by injecting steel into his game. He is now far more able to control the manner of matches, happy to get down in the weeds and battle in tactical exchanges.
Allen has only ever reached two semi-finals at the World Championship – one of them last year – but goes to Sheffield with an enhanced reputation as a hard man.
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He will be joined by some contenders whose chances seemed limited just a short time ago, namely Gary Wilson and Zhang Anda.
Wilson first turned professional in 2004 and after being relegated in 2006, took seven years to return to the tour. It then took the Tynesider another nine to become a champion before he landed the Scottish Open in late 2022. This season, Wilson has successfully defended that title and also won the Welsh Open.
Like London buses, he has waited ages for one and now three have come along at once. Wilson will be seeded at the Crucible and must go there full of confidence, aware that the other players now see him as a dangerman.
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Zhang’s story is inspiring if a little bizarre. He first turned pro in 2009, has been relegated from the tour three times and was plodding along in the mid-rankings until he reached the final of last October’s English Open, where Trump rallied from 7-3 down to beat him 9-7.
He took the positives and a few weeks later won the £175,000 first prize at the International Championship, making a maximum break in the final. He was suddenly a top-16 player and again demonstrated why by beating John Higgins and Selby to reach the Players Championship final, where Allen eventually shook him off 10-8 at close to midnight.
His solid style and apparently unflustered manner make him perfectly suited for the long sessions at the Crucible, where from three previous appearances he has failed to win a match. But that was the old Zhang. The new one is a revelation.
Selby did not win the title in Telford but his hammering of O’Sullivan reiterated what a big-occasion player he is. Their rivalry is modern snooker’s most compelling. There is a long list of players intimidated by playing O’Sullivan but Selby is not one of them.
His Crucible pedigree is plain to see, with four titles from six finals. He is so far trophyless this season but so often comes alive in the heat of battle in Sheffield.
Who else could be a threat? Higgins, four times the world champion, has played some great stuff this season before invariably just falling short. Even if he doesn’t last the course for the full 17 days, he could be a major impediment to some of the other title challengers.
Ditto Mark Williams, another legend still capable of high-quality performances. Carter has been consistent, reaching two finals and going deep in several other tournaments. Shaun Murphy and Kyren Wilson have been quiet but will be hoping to peak at exactly the right time come mid-April.
The most intriguing of all competitors this year is surely Brecel, currently the only player who knows when he’ll be walking down the Crucible steps. As defending champion, the Belgian will be kicking off proceedings on the morning of April 20.
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He has been largely missing in action this season but went to Saudi Arabia having lost some weight, more tuned up after time spent on the practise table and talking far more positively about his snooker than at the Masters when, asked if he was looking forward to playing, he said, “Not really.”
Could Brecel get on another run at the World Championship, or will he fall victim to the infamous ‘curse’ which has ensured no first time champion has successfully defended the title?
Can O’Sullivan and Trump get back to winning ways or will a new, unexpected, challenger emerge?
These are questions which will be answered in a mere matter of weeks. Riyadh gives the game’s top stars a chance to chase some big money as they showcase the sport in a new region for snooker, but the ultimate challenge lies ahead.
The circuit has changed profoundly over the years, yet one truth remains: in the end, all roads lead to the Crucible.
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