Ronnie O'Sullivan suffered a surprise defeat to Luca Brecel at the 2023 World Snooker Championship and the Belgian Bullet went on to lift the title, before admitting he was "drunk as hell" during the tournament. The 29-year-old had not won a single match at the Crucible before last year, but enjoyed a barnstorming run which ended with a final victory over Mark Selby.
Brecel put himself on the map at the quarter-final stage when he took on O'Sullivan. Having gone down 10-6 to the Rocket in the first two sessions, he won the final seven frames of the session to sensationally knock the seven-time world champion out and set up a semi with Si Jiahui.
Shortly after dismantling O'Sullivan, Brecel joined the BBC team and admitted that he had spent the tournament "out partying" and getting "drunk as hell" by going out with his friends back home in Belgium until the early hours of the morning.
"Before the tournament I was out partying, staying up late to 6 or 7am, playing FIFA with my friends, not practising," Brecel said. "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."
The unorthodox preparations paid off for Brecel, however, as he travelled back and forth to his homeland between matches to drink with his friends. After downing O'Sullivan, he went on to seal another comeback victory against Si and then came out on top against Selby 18-15 to clinch his maiden world championship.
Despite last year's success, Brecel insisted that he has no plans to replicate the long journeys and drinking a second time around. "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."
Brecel begins his title defence in the competition's opening set of matches against David Gilbert on Saturday.
After a slow start to the season, he has regained top form and recently pocketed a cool £125,000 cash prize for reaching the Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker final, where O'Sullivan got his revenge on Brecel and won in Saudi Arabia.
