Ssb - brilliant brecel

[visionaire]

According to his website they'll know this week if he's allowed on the main tour or not. Eitherway he will play the PTC tournaments, I'm very curious how he'll do!

I remember the first time I saw him play, he was about 10 and came to my local Pro-Am (I was living in Holland at the time), he mopped the floor with one of my friends who was twice his size, heard the grumbling about it for months!

[Rane]

7-1 on Luca Brecel becoming the youngest ever world champion is boarding on lunacy and total panic for no reason from bookies.

Yes for sure. Let him show that he can win a ranking tournament before he turns 20, then maybe it´s time to talk about that. Ronnie O´Sullivan, John Higgins and Ding didn´t manage to do it !

[JanieWatkins]

Yes for sure. Let him show that he can win a ranking tournament before he turns 20, then maybe it´s time to talk about that. Ronnie O´Sullivan, John Higgins and Ding didn´t manage to do it !

Ronnie won his first ranking event aged 17

[Looki]

Ronnie won his first ranking event aged 17

Yes, they all (Ding, Higgins, O'Sullivan) won their first ranking events when they were teenagers. But what I think Rane meant was they couldn't become the youngest ever world champions no matter how promising prospects they were.

[wildJONESEYE]

Yes, they all (Ding, Higgins, O'Sullivan) won their first ranking events when they were teenagers. But what I think Rane meant was they couldn't become the youngest ever world champions no matter how promising prospects they were.

John Higgins and Shaun Murphy came closest to do it they were 22 years of age with shaun pipping John by about 3 months.

[Looki]

It's a bit OT but with the standard being so high nowadays and players maturing to top players usually "well" after 20 I'm not seeing Stephen's record broken anytime soon. Also the longer format of WC often works against more inexperienced players and those who have been around longer know how to turn matches around even they are well down. Of course it's not impossible to break the record but it takes a special player and a little luck.

[wildJONESEYE]

It's a bit OT but with the standard being so high nowadays and players maturing to top players usually "well" after 20 I'm not seeing Stephen's record broken anytime soon. Also the longer format of WC often works against more inexperienced players and those who have been around longer know how to turn matches around even they are well down. Of course it's not impossible to break the record but it takes a special player and a little luck.

Ding won the UK in 2005 so really it has absalutly nothing to do with standards or that nonsense....if your good enough your old enough its that simple what i don't agree with putting stupid odds of 7-1 on him at 15 becomes the youngest champion without him playing a pro match.

if he wins a ranking tournament at 17 or 18 id only give him odds of 20-1 converting that to a World Championship by the age of 22 he should be about 100-1 minimum at the moment to give value on people betting on him.

[Looki]

Ding won the UK in 2005 so really it has absalutly nothing to do with standards or that nonsense....if your good enough your old enough its that simple

I'm afraid it's not that simple.

First of all UK is, although a very important tournament, very different compared to WC. I think most players would agree.

It takes some extra effort from the players to win WC at any time or age simply because they want it so much. And younger players don't seem to be able to produce that extra, whatever it is. Standard has gone up IMO from the early 90s in the sense that nowadays when you make mistakes the probability that you get punished is higher. And also experienced players know how to freeze someones game AND then make the most of it. The latter part I'm not sure was the case back in the 80s and early 90s with most players anyway, no matter how experienced. Players need to be more complete today to win any tournaments than back then.

This is my view

[madman]

We have been down this road many times before and will broach this subject many more times in the future. Over the years, cases have been put forward for the exceptional players such as, Ding, Trump, Michael White etc. Brecel is the latest of these exceptional players by the looks of it.

We all know he has the ability and is capable of beating main tour pro's, but at the end of the day, at 15, do you really think this kid has the mental strength required at this age to compete on the main tour.

Plus with Luca, do you have to take into account his autism or is it adhd, that he has. Could these symptoms effect him under the extreme pressure he will be under in ranking tournaments. Trust me, he may think he has been under pressure in the many triumphant events he has won over the years, but nothing will compare to the pressure as a main tour novice.

The trouble is, players this age who are highly successful, such as Luca, think they are ready for the main tour, they are young, fearless, but most of all, impatient. They think they will get on the tour and 'set the world alight', but it just doesn't happen like that anymore. One day, somebody like Luca will do that, but i do not feel he is the one to do it, not just yet.

He needs his peer's, to explain this and let him know that if he can have a couple of season's on the pct circuit, to gain the relevant experience required for the main tour, he will be much better mentally prepared by the time he is 17 or 18 to cope with these extremes of pressure he will get as a professional. But you know, it happens all the time, when opportunity comes knocking, its hard to say no.

At the end of the day, there is only one Ronnie O'Sullivan. I doubt very much we will see the likes of his ability for many, many years to come. He is purely a one-off. And no matter how good these youngsters are coming through, the best they can hope for is survival on the tour in the first year, and a gradual rise up the rankings the following years. Even though Mark Allen done it in a couple of years. These players coming through can and most probably will be extremely good players, but patience is the thing!!!!!!

Good luck Luca:snooker:

[wildJONESEYE]

Ronnie did not win a World Championship until he was 25 and he was touted as the youngest winner but he never reached a final before he was 25.

both Higgins and Williams reached World Finals by that age.

[noel]

Luca will be fine.
As I have said a number of times before... there is no need to push the river.
And anyway, "first things first"... he needs to get laid.



=o)

Noel