The level of play Luca Brecel displayed at this year's World Snooker Championship was something that few others in the history of the sport would have been able to replicate.
He was in absolutely sensational form at The Crucible, with some of the shots he pulled off during the tournament an absolute sight to behold. In the end, there is no doubt that he emerged as a deserving winner.
Luca Brecel has always had the talent to perform at the highest level, although there had been doubts about his willingness to apply the type of dedication that is usually required at the highest level of snooker.
The player himself has admitted as much in the past. In saying that, he credited his success at The Crucible to his more easygoing approach in comparison to previous editions of the tournament.
His form since that victory has been relatively poor, with the player now taking a rather unorthodox step in an attempt to rectify that issue.
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Luca Brecel admits lack of motivation since becoming world snooker champion
Luca Brecel pocketed a cool £500,000 for his win at the World Championships this year, with the Belgian not being shy to spend that money in the months that followed. He immediately splashed half of his winnings on a brand new Ferrari.
He believes that the financial comfort achieved by winning the tournament has affected his level of performance in recent months and has now taken a rather odd step in order to rectify the issue.
Speaking after his UK Championship first round win on Sunday, he admitted buying two more cars in order to decrease his bank balance a bit and crank up the pressure on himself to perform.
I bought two more cars this week, so I went from a millionaire to a non-millionaire.
It was a conscious decision to buy the cars and maybe feel that bit of pressure again, to recreate the feeling I had of just starting my career.
I didn’t go lazy, but I just didn’t feel that hunger or motivation going from tournament to tournament.
I don’t like that feeling and I had to change something. I wasn’t feeling any pressure any more. I was just playing and if I lost I was happy to be home. It’s not a good mindset to have.
If you feel like that it’s impossible to change, but in the last few weeks I’ve been tired of losing in early rounds and I want to have that hunger to go deep again in tournaments.
That's certainly one way to go about things.
The lack of financial jeopardy is something that can affect the mindset of players, although the way it has changed Luca Brecel perhaps does not bode well for his long-term prospects in the sport.
In saying that, you get the sense that he will be more than motivated in his mission to claim another £500,000 cheque at the 2024 World Snooker Championship.
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