Chelsea and England forward Fran Kirby says she is “absolutely gutted” to be missing the World Cup after learning she will require surgery for a knee injury that will leave her out of action for a “significant period”.
Kirby, 29, was unavailable for Sarina Wiegman’s most recent England squad in April and will also miss Chelsea’s challenge for a fourth consecutive Women’s Super League title and this month’s FA Cup final against Manchester United.
In a tweet posted following an official statement from her club, Kirby revealed efforts to rehabilitate the injury, sustained in Chelsea’s Continental League Cup semi-final in February, had failed to restore her fitness.
She wrote: “Unfortunately after a few months of rehab the decision has made that I will require surgery on my knee. I have been trying my best to not have to undergo this but unfortunately my progress has been limited due to the issue in my knee.
“I’m absolutely gutted to announce my season is over and I will not be able to make the World Cup in the summer.
“I’m going to be doing everything possible to be ready for the start of next season and want to wish my team-mates at Chelsea the best of luck for the rest of the season and my Lioness team-mates the best of luck for the summer.”
Kirby’s statement followed one posted to the official Chelsea website, which read: “Following an injury sustained during our Continental League Cup semi-final against West Ham, Fran has been reviewed at Cobham by the Chelsea medical team.
“Following that review and further discussion with a specialist, Fran is set to undergo surgery and is expected to be sidelined for a significant period.
“Fran will begin a rehabilitation programme with support from the club’s medical team. Everyone at Chelsea sends their best wishes to Fran in her recovery.”
Kirby netted twice for England during last summer’s Euro 2022 triumph and has scored seven times for Chelsea in 13 appearances across all competitions this season.
The news comes as another blow for England head coach Wiegman, just weeks after captain Leah Williamson was ruled out of the World Cup after rupturing her ACL, while a timely recovery for Euro 2022 player of the tournament and Golden Boot winner Beth Mead from the same injury looks unlikely.
Wiegman is set to announce her squad for the upcoming tournament in late May.
Carlos Alcaraz cruised to victory over Alexander Zverev in a rematch of last year’s Madrid Open final.
Zverev is still trying to rediscover his best form after suffering a serious ankle injury at the French Open last summer and this time he was no match for the young Spaniard, who claimed a 6-1 6-2 victory to reach the quarter-finals at the Caja Magica.
Alcaraz, bidding for back-to-back titles after winning in Barcelona last week, dominated from the start and Zverev could find no answers, with his forehand particularly wayward.
Alcaraz, who turns 20 on Friday, said in an on-court interview: “For me it’s amazing to play the level that I played today.
“It’s been a question mark for me – this result isn’t normal. I played great, I feel really good right now and this match gives me a lot of confidence.”
There were two shocks in all-Russian contests, with Daniil Medvedev losing to Aslan Karatsev and Karen Khachanov beating Andrey Rublev.
Second seed Medvedev complained about the lack of space behind the baseline on the Arantxa Sanchez Stadium during a 7-6 (1) 6-4 loss to qualifier Karatsev, who plummeted down the rankings last year after his remarkable 2021 breakthrough, where he reached the Australian Open semi-finals.
This was a brilliant display of power hitting from Karatsev, who will return to the top 100 next week.
Fifth seed Rublev has been enjoying an excellent season, winning his first Masters 1000 tournament in Monte-Carlo last month, but he was edged out 7-6 (8) 6-4 by doubles partner Khachanov.
“I hope he will play with me tomorrow,” said Khachanov, who now faces Alcaraz in singles. “This match is over, we need to have some time maybe to absorb it, for him.
“It was the same in Monte-Carlo, he beat me. Life goes on, he’s doing well this year, I’m doing well.”
Richard Taylor has signed a new deal at St Mirren, keeping him at the club until the summer of 2025.
The 22-year-old defender initially joined the Buddies on a six-month deal in January, with the Paisley club holding the option to extend further which has now been taken up.
Taylor signed for Saints after leaving League of Ireland First Division side Waterford and made his debut in a 1-1 draw with Hearts on January 7.
He has gone on to make eight first-team appearances so far this season, and boss Stephen Robinson told the club’s website: “Richard has come in and been fantastic in the games he has played.
“He’s stepped up to the level in games against Celtic and Hearts, and in the longer term, I think he’s a very good addition to our squad.
“He’s someone we are constantly working on, he’s someone who wants to learn and he’s still only young.
“He’s left-footed which gives us more balance on that side of defence and he can play at left-back as well.
“He’s 6ft 2ins and he’s quick as well as being very composed on the ball and going forward he gives us a few more options playing out from the back.”
Amber Hill has admitted she will never get over the moment she discovered her dream of competing at the Tokyo Olympics had been dashed due to a positive test for coronavirus.
The 23-year-old skeet shooter had her bags packed and had bade farewell to her family when she received the news just two days prior to the opening ceremony in the Japanese capital.
All the stars had seemed to align for Hill, who was to have gone into her second Games as the reigning world number one and one of Team GB’s strongest hopes to stand on top of the podium.
Instead, she found herself isolating at home where her mental health deteriorated and she spent sleepless nights seriously considering quitting her sport.
“It was one of the hardest moments of my life and it’s something I don’t feel like I’ll ever get over,” Hill told the PA news agency.
“What I found really hard was that I was at the best point of my career, my training was perfect, and I was genuinely feeling as happy as I ever had.
“The disappointment of not knowing how that Olympic journey was going to end for me was heartbreaking. I had resentment towards the sport, I was bitter towards it all. I’d lie awake at night worrying about everything.
“I didn’t realise at the time, but I was going through a traumatic experience. I got into a very dark place with it all and I was ready to quit.”
Hill, a precocious junior who became her sport’s youngest winner of a World Cup series at the age of 15 in 2013 and had made her debut at the Rio Olympics, soon realised she required more than just the support of her family and friends to help her through.
Working with a psychologist recommended to her by British Shooting, Hill learned to take a step back from the sport to which she had devoted most of her life since the age of eight, and began to prioritise her life away from the range.
She married her long-term partner in February this year – something she admitted she would have previously struggled to schedule – and is also spending more time pursuing business interests that remain, for the time being, under wraps.
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Quietly, Hill’s shooting career began to flourish again. In 2022, she won three medals at the World Championships in Osijek, European gold in Nicosia, World Cup golds in Nicosia and Changwon, and a trio of European golds in Larnaca.
She said: “I began to understand that as much as I believed that I was putting myself first, I really wasn’t. Everything was put on hold because of my shooting schedule. I realised I had to start focusing on the things that make me happy in daily life.
“I wasn’t in a great place with the sport, but I knew I had people who relied on me. I went to competitions with no expectations again, like I had when I first started competing, and that’s where the success really came from.
“It was totally unexpected, but last year was my most successful to date. I’ve had some massive low points and I’m surprised I’ve managed to push through. But I feel like I have a much healthier relationship with my sport.”
Arguably the most significant of Hill’s sporting achievements in 2022 was her European title in September that confirmed a quota place for Paris – meaning she has effectively spared herself the potential insecurity of qualifying going down to the wire for what will be her second Games.
She is likely to go the French capital as a gold medal favourite but confesses to still struggling to come to terms with her gruelling ascent to the summit of her sport – and much better equipped should she come up short against those inevitable external expectations.
“Regardless of what the outcome is, I realise now that there is so much more to my sport than just a medal around my neck,” Hill added.
“It’s got to fit in with what I want to do and what makes me happy. If the day comes when it doesn’t, then it’s clearly not for me any more.”
Christian Fuchs' overriding memory of Leicester City's title celebrations in 2016 are Jamie Vardy's tears... at having to move house.
Leicester won their first Premier League title on May 2, 2016, when Tottenham drew with Chelsea.
Seven years on, the Foxes are scrapping at the wrong end of the table, having drawn 2-2 with Everton on Monday in a relegation six-pointer.
Vardy scored against Everton, marking his second league goal in as many appearances after only striking once before in the top flight this term.
The 36-year-old might still play a key role in Leicester ensuring safety, and was one of their talismanic figures during that glorious 2015-16 campaign.
Indeed, the Leicester squad gathered to watch the Chelsea-Tottenham game at the striker's home, and it was there that the title celebrations started, as Fuchs recalls.
He told Stats Perform: "Jamie was crying because he knew he had to move out right away the next day! Because now everybody knew where he was living. The whole town, Everybody was there.
"The emotions, when you see the video right after the final whistle, what happened was insane.
"But it was between crying, screaming, laughing, players on the floor, people on the floor. It was just manic, it was crazy."
Fuchs stressed that it was not until Leicester were mathematically champions that the Foxes squad allowed themselves to bask in their achievement.
"A big secret to success is being humble, even if you are five points ahead," Fuchs said.
"We stayed humble. And we thought okay, we're not the favourites even though we're so close. Eventually we made it."
Claudio Ranieri's remarkable work with Leicester's squad holds a special place in Fuchs' heart.
"His calmness, first of all, his understanding for individual needs and situations of players," Fuchs said when asked what made Ranieri such a special coach.
"He treated you as a player, not just okay, you're number five, your number 12. Whatever it is, he really took care of us, understanding that if I give my players the freedom off the field, and I trust them, then they will perform better for me on the field.
"It was kept very simple, our football back then was so simple. Basically, protect the goal and kick it long. Find Vardy on the break.
"But this personal level that he really took interest in. Who are you? What's your family like? Who's your family? That went a long way with me."
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp fully expects to be punished for his comments about Paul Tierney but insists he did not intentionally call the referee’s integrity into question and has not lied about the incident.
While blaming the emotion of a last-gasp 4-3 win over Tottenham, having been 3-0 up, can in no way excuse the Reds boss for charging down the touchline to celebrate wildly in front of fourth official John Brooks or his suggestions Tierney “had history” with the club, Klopp said in the cold light of day, he never meant to cast aspersions.
Tierney actually appears to have done Klopp a favour by not sending him off as the German claimed the referee had told him his actions on the touchline were worthy of a red card but he chose to issue a yellow.
It was that apparent suggestion which led Klopp to say what Tierney said to him was “not OK”, with the 55-year-old German insisting he has not lied about the interaction after the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) rejected Tierney’s actions were “improper” and insisted a review of the recording proves Tierney behaved in a “professional manner”.
“With all the things which have been made, I probably have to expect the punishment,” said Klopp.
“I think the refs think I questioned the integrity (of their colleague), which when I am calm and sitting here I don’t do, but in that moment I just describe my feelings.
“I am very sure he is not doing it intentionally but we have a history and I cannot deny that.
“Of course they didn’t happen intentionally but they are still there and it’s a feeling and nothing else.
“I know the refs were really angry about what I said and now go for it. I heard I was lying.
“I did a lot of things that day but I didn’t lie. I shouldn’t have said a couple of things but lying was not one of them.”
Klopp seems likely to receive an extended touchline ban on the back of actions at the weekend.
He already served a one-game suspension in November after the Football Association successfully appealed against an independent regulatory commission decision to only fine him £30,000 in regards to his behaviour in confronting assistant referee Gary Beswick and subsequently being sent of by referee Anthony Taylor.
He accepts he has brought this situation on himself and said he regretted allowing his emotions to get the better of him.
“We won a football game 4-3 in a very spectacular manner and the only headlines are the ones I created and I really regret that,” he said.
“It is absolutely not necessary and not how it should be.
“The whole situation shouldn’t have happened at all. It was out of emotion, it was out of anger in that moment. That’s why I celebrated the way I celebrated.
“Paul Tierney came over to me and I didn’t expect at all a red card. I know I had a red card not too long ago but I didn’t expect for a second a red card because I didn’t feel it was right.
“I expected a yellow card in that moment and he (Tierney) said to me ‘For me it’s a red card but because of him’ – that’s what I understood because it was loud in the stadium – ‘but because of him it’s yellow’. Showed me a yellow and smiled to my face. That’s it.
“The final whistle we go inside and I try to calm down and it didn’t work out properly and I said what I said.
“I said ‘What he said to me was not OK’ and I thought it was not OK because it was not a red card in my view.
“I understand I opened the box. It was not intentional but I opened it.”
Liverpool face Fulham on Wednesday looking for a fourth-successive victory to maintain their unlikely pursuit of Champions League football.
There will inevitably be increased scrutiny on the manager, but he said: “If there is one good thing, I prefer much I am in that situation than any player.
“We will see but I can’t see it will have an influence on the team.”
Everton’s Jordan Pickford feels he won the mind games with Leicester’s James Maddison after his crucial penalty save.
The England goalkeeper stopped Maddison’s first-half spot-kick before Alex Iwobi’s leveller secured a 2-2 draw for the Toffees at the King Power Stadium on Monday evening.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s penalty had given the 19th-placed visitors the lead before the Foxes hit back with goals from Caglar Soyuncu and Jamie Vardy.
Pickford stopped the hosts going 3-1 ahead by denying Maddison from 12 yards, after Michael Keane’s handball, with the notes on his water bottle telling him the forward goes down the middle 60 per cent of the time.
“I do my homework. I called it this morning, which way I was going to go, but he’s a good player with his delivery and he can whip it or open it up,” he told placed Everton’s website.
“I think he expects me to dive so I think I’ve double-bluffed him and got one up on him. It was a big moment in the game and I’m happy I saved it because that’s what I’m there to do, try to help out my team-mates if they make mistakes.
“We’re both fighting. We’re both down there. There’s probably a bit of anxiety, a bit of pressure out on the pitch from both teams.
“I thought we played brilliant in the first 20 minutes – we did exactly what the gaffer wanted from us, then we dropped off the boil and they came into the game a bit.
“We created a lot of chances. Their keeper, (Daniel) Iversen, made some very good saves, so credit to him because when he was called upon he made those saves.
“I think it’s the most chances we’ve created since the manager (Sean Dyche) came in (in late January), if not all season, so that’s a plus but a negative as well.”
Leicester – one point better off than Everton – moved out of the drop zone on goal difference ahead of next Monday afternoon’s game at Fulham.
They will still be out of the bottom three when they kick off at Craven Cottage as rivals Nottingham Forest host Southampton on Monday evening.
“We’ve come away with a point, so we’ll take that,” defender Luke Thomas told the club’s website.
“We’ve got ourselves out of the relegation zone and it’s three games undefeated.
“I don’t think there’s been many times this season where we’ve done that. We’ve struggled, but that’s a positive to take and hopefully on Monday we can make that four.”
Kevin De Bruyne faces a fitness test ahead of Manchester City’s Premier League clash with West Ham on Wednesday.
The influential Belgium playmaker missed the champions’ victory at Fulham on Sunday with an unspecified knock and is again a doubt as the Hammers visit the Etihad Stadium.
Defender Nathan Ake could be in contention after missing City’s last three games with a hamstring injury.
Manager Pep Guardiola said at his pre-match press conference on Tuesday: “Nathan trained with us and feels good.
“Kevin has started to move but hasn’t trained with the team (yet). Now we have training in a few hours and we will know exactly how he feels.”
Wednesday’s game could see the prolific Erling Haaland set a new record for the most goals by a player in a Premier League season.
The Norwegian netted his 34th of the league campaign at Fulham, drawing him level with joint record-holders Andy Cole and Alan Shearer.
His strike at Craven Cottage was his 50th of the season in all competitions and, with a potential 10 games remaining, it is not inconceivable that he could pass Dixie Dean’s 1927-28 record of 63.
It has been an astonishing first year in English football but Guardiola is confident there could be plenty more to come from the 22-year-old.
Guardiola said: “It is a surprise for all of us – maybe not for him – to do what he’s doing in this difficult league but the way he behaves and has done it is for the success of the team.
“Of course it’s good for him and the team if he breaks the records. It’s a good sign.
“The magnitude of a record is because for a long time it was not broken. All records will be broken one day.
“He himself or another one will break the record Erling is going to set, because I’m pretty sure he is going to score more goals in the Premier League until the end of the season.”
In-form City put themselves in firm control of the title race with their victory over Arsenal last week but, after being pushed hard by Fulham, Guardiola is not taking anything for granted against the Hammers.
He said: “West Ham maybe didn’t do the season they expected but that doesn’t mean the quality is not there.
“In the last two seasons with David Moyes they have been exceptional.
“The weapons are there, they are a good team. I don’t have doubts about them. In one game anything can happen. We have to be absolutely ready.”
Two-time reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic has "zero interest" in the hype surrounding this year's award.
Jokic is a leading candidate for the 2022-23 MVP award, alongside Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks.
The winner will be announced on Tuesday, a day after Jokic led the Denver Nuggets to a 97-87 victory over the Phoenix Suns in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals.
Jokic delivered a performance worthy of an MVP, scoring 39 points and adding 16 rebounds to help Denver take a 2-0 series lead.
But the 28-year-old Serbian is not paying much credence to the speculation over who will claim the prize.
"I don't really think about it. Like zero interest," said Jokic, who is hoping to spend Tuesday recovering.
"Hopefully, it's going to be a sunny day, so I can be in the swimming pool," he quipped.
Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell are the only other players to have been named an MVP for three seasons running.
"I mean, I cannot think about that, because I cannot control it," Jokic said.
Nuggets coach Michael Malone knows that Jokic is not motivated by individual success.
"I marvel at his greatness, I marvel at his consistency, his excellence, his ability to find so many different ways to beat you, whether it's scoring, rebounding, playmaking, not afraid of the moment," Malone said of Jokic.
"There's so many quality [MVP] candidates, and it'll be a really close race.
"But I know what motivates Nikola Jokic, what motivates myself and the rest of the guys in that locker room, is not the MVP.
"It's our journey to try and win the first championship in franchise history."
After two home wins for the Nuggets, Game 3 in Phoenix takes place on Friday.
Chris Paul hobbled off with an apparent groin problem in the Phoenix Suns' loss to the Denver Nuggets.
The Suns lost 97-87 on Monday, with the Nuggets moving into a 2-0 lead in the series.
There was further concern as Paul left the game in the third quarter, and the Suns can now only hope for the best in regard to his status.
"All we can do is hope he has a speedy recovery," said Devin Booker, who scored 35 points.
"We're going to be behind him. We're going to hold it down while he is out, or if he's out, and just take it from there."
Monty Williams added: "He just came up where he couldn't push off of it or anything.
"We're not quite sure what it is right now, but it seems to be something in the groin area. We'll find out more [on Tuesday].
Should Paul fail to recover, Booker said he is ready to shoulder extra responsibility.
"I mean, the playoffs is a lot, a lot comes with this, so you just have to embrace it," he said.
"Embrace the challenge, embrace the opportunity that we have right now, even down 0-2.
"Get back home, protect our home court and go from there. But a lot is on all of our plates, and that's everybody throughout the playoffs right now."
James Harden's "perfect mindset" was lauded by Doc Rivers after the Philadelphia 76ers got the better of the Boston Celtics.
The 76ers nudged themselves ahead in their Eastern Conference semifinals series against the Celtics with a 119-115 win on Monday.
Philadelphia were without talisman and NBA MVP candidate Joel Embiid, who was ruled out of Game 1 due to a sprained ankle.
Yet Harden stepped up, scoring 45 points, matching his playoff career-high.
"I thought that he had just the perfect mindset tonight," 76ers coach Rivers said of Harden.
"He really did. I'm so happy for him because it just tells you what he can do on given nights.
"The guy is a Hall of Famer, and all you hear is the other stuff about him, and he was fantastic."
Harden finished with 17-for-30 from the field and 7-for-14 three-pointers.
"I haven't felt one of those zones in a minute," Harden said. "You know what I mean? Just to be aggressive and shoot the basketball and do what I want.
"That felt really good. I'm capable of doing it, so it felt good. It felt good to make those shots, to give ourselves a chance."
Harden, though, does not feel he needs to prove himself all over again – he just wants to help the Sixers win.
"I don't need to make a statement," Harden added. "My coaches, my team-mates, what they expect me to do all throughout the course of the year was be a facilitator and get Joel the basketball and score when necessary. Joel wasn't here tonight, you know what I mean? And, we knew that going into this series.
"Now it's like, 'All right, open the floor. James, you be aggressive.' And tonight, I was aggressive. So, it's not that I'm not capable of doing it, this is my role for this team. Now, if you want me to do [what I did] tonight, then I can do that as well.
"I don't think a lot of players can do that. So yeah, I appreciate that."
For Harden's team-mate P.J. Tucker, Monday's win was evidence the Sixers are not wholly reliant on star player Embiid.
"I think we take pride in playing without the big fella," Tucker said. "As good as he is, I think it gives others opportunities to step up and play.
"Everybody took a little step up with him out. It's like a pride thing for us."
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insisted “the whole thing should never have happened” as he explained his part in the row which has blown up between him and referee Paul Tierney.
The Football Association is investigating comments by the Reds boss which appeared to call into question the integrity of the official following Sunday’s dramatic 4-3 win over Tottenham.
After his side’s late winner, Klopp ran down the touchline to celebrate in front of fourth official John Brooks and received a yellow card from Tierney.
“The whole situation shouldn’t have happened at all. It was out of emotion, out of anger in that moment. That’s why I celebrated the way I celebrated,” Klopp said.
“I didn’t say anything wrong. I couldn’t get close to the fourth official and I didn’t want to get close to him.
“Paul Tierney came over and I didn’t expect a red card I expected a yellow. He said to me: ‘For me it’s a red card,’ but he gave me a yellow.
“After the game I tried to calm down and didn’t properly. I said (in TV interviews): ‘What he said to me was not OK’. I opened the box which I didn’t want to open.
“The rest was things I said about how I felt in that moment and Paul Tierney doing our games. I’m not a resentful person but these things which happen in the past happens, not intentionally but they are there.
“Obviously the refs are really angry about what I said. I did a lot of things that day but I didn’t lie.”
Klopp said after the game that he did not know what the official “has against us”.
Speaking ahead of Wednesday’s home match against Fulham, Klopp added: “With all the things I maybe expect a punishment. Refs think I questioned their integrity, which if I am sitting here now calm, I don’t do. We have to wait to see what they come back with.”
Shortly after the Spurs game the Professional Game Match Officials Limited responded.
Its statement read: “PGMOL is aware of the comments made by Jurgen Klopp after his side’s fixture with Tottenham Hotspur.
“Match officials in the Premier League are recorded in all games via a communications system and having fully reviewed the audio of referee Paul Tierney from today’s fixture, we can confirm he acted in a professional manner throughout including when issuing the caution to the Liverpool manager so, therefore, we strongly refute any suggestion that Tierney’s actions were improper.”
Six former Yorkshire players are set to be sanctioned on Wednesday for using racist language.
Five individuals – John Blain, Tim Bresnan, Andrew Gale, Matthew Hoggard and Richard Pyrah – were found to have used the word ‘P***’ towards former Yorkshire team-mate Azeem Rafiq or other people of Asian ethnicity in an independent Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) panel decision issued on March 31.
All five had withdrawn from the disciplinary process prior to a hearing taking place in early March to determine liability, with the cases against them heard in their absence.
A further ex-Yorkshire player, Gary Ballance, admitted a charge of using racist and/or discriminatory language prior to the hearing and did not appear. He too will be sanctioned on Wednesday.
The CDC panel cleared former England captain Michael Vaughan of using racist and/or discriminatory language.
Yorkshire admitted four charges in the case, which stemmed primarily from allegations made by Rafiq and the club’s handling of those allegations.
A separate hearing will deal with the sanctions the club will face on June 27.
Former England international Hoggard was found to have used the term “P***” towards Rafiq and other Asian players during the 2008 season, and the term ‘Rafa the Kaffir’ towards Rafiq.
It also found he had used the term “token black man” or “TBM” towards former Yorkshire team-mate Ismail Dawood, and dismissed Hoggard’s assertion that Dawood had created the nickname himself.
Gale, a former Yorkshire captain and head coach, was also found to have used the term “Rafa the Kaffir” towards Rafiq and the term “P***” towards Rafiq and Yorkshire academy player Mosun Hussain.
Blain was found to have used the term “P***” in 2010 and/or 2011 while at Yorkshire, while Bresnan and Pyrah were found to have used the term “fit P***” or “FP” about Asian women.
The panel will issue sanctions after considering any written submissions and verbal representations put before it by the six individuals.
The PA news agency understands as of Tuesday afternoon written submissions had only been received on behalf of Ballance.
The six individuals were charged with breaching England and Wales Cricket Board Directive 3.3.
The Directive states: “No such person may conduct themself in a manner or do any act or omission which may be prejudicial to the interests of cricket or which may bring the game of cricket or any cricketer or group of cricketers into disrepute.”
Among the panel’s sanctioning powers are the imposition of suspensions and fines, and ordering an education or training course be completed.
When Luca Brecel burst onto the Crucible stage as a history-making 17-year-old in 2012 he was still putting in arduous hours on the practice table and had never taken so much as a sip of beer.
“I really don’t know what it tastes like,” Brecel told the Belgian website Humo as he prepared to become the youngest ever player in the first round of the tournament. “It doesn’t really interest me that much.”
Fast forward 13 years and the angel-faced teen who also admitted he had no time for chasing girls is a beer-swilling, party-loving champion of the world, having fended off Mark Selby to claim the crown in thrilling style in Sheffield on Monday.
Victory capped a remarkable, and some would say belated, journey to the sport’s summit for Brecel, whose momentum from an astounding junior career had threatened to stall upon his arrival in the professional ranks.
Brecel first clasped a cue during a family holiday in Italy at the age of nine, and upon returning to the family home in Maasmechelen he and his father sought out their closest club to nurture his early enthusiasm.
His interest in the sport sky-rocketed the following year when Brecel switched on his TV to get a taste of World Championship action for the first time – and in the very first frame he watched, Mark Williams proceeded to rifle in a 147 in his 10-1 drubbing of Robert Milkins.
“I thought I would never be able to do that,” recalled Brecel, who actually went on to do just that in a tournament in Belgium two years later, by which time his parents had taken note of his talent and knocked down a wall in order to install a full-size table in their family home.
“From then on he really started training like a man possessed – sometimes up to 15 hours a day on weekends,” his dad Carlo told Humo.
Plaudits and titles were not long in coming. Brecel beat Stephen Hendry in an exhibition in 2010, the same year in which he became Belgian senior champion for the first time at the age of just 15.
He received a wild card for the main tour in 2011, arrowing his way straight into the top 100, and the following year he fought through four qualifying rounds to become the youngest ever Crucible qualifier, acquitting himself well in a 10-5 first-round defeat to Stephen Maguire.
Despite reaching the last eight of the UK Championship the following year, however, Brecel’s early momentum began to stall. He floated on the periphery of the big time and it was not until he triumphed at the China Championship in Guangzhou in 2017 that he finally got his hands on some silverware.
He was having no luck at the Crucible, where four subsequent visits following his debut would yield four straight losses, and only a stirring end to his 2021 campaign, when he followed up a final appearance at the UK Championship with his second ranking title at the Scottish Open, reignited that flicker of promise.
Brecel – resplendent in knuckle tattoos reading “free bird” and “La Vida Loca” – arrived for his sixth crack at the Crucible truly off the radar – and resolutely off the practice table.
“I haven’t really practised for this tournament,” Brecel insisted after a thoroughly underwhelming 10-9 first-round win over Ricky Walden.
“I think I’ve maybe had only 15 minutes of practice in three weeks. Many people ask me why – I don’t know. I’m at home. I’ve got a good life. I do so many things in my life that I almost forget to play snooker.”
From 15-hour sessions to 15-minute fleeting visits, from soft drinks to boozy late-night sessions, Brecel has tried it all. On Monday night at the Crucible he finally alighted on a winning formula that carried him over the line and towards a lucrative and party-loving future.
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