Stephen Hendry rips into ‘scandalous’ Luca Brecel after snooker star’s latest blow | Other | Sport

This season has witnessed him plummet to devastating depths, sliding down to 40th in the world rankings and 85th on the one-year list.

He fell short of securing a seeded position for the UK Championship which kicks off this weekend and consequently had to enter qualifying.

But he scarcely got started, tumbling out in the third qualifying round with a stunning 6-3 loss to 106th-ranked Ian Burns.

His tragic downfall has captured the attention of seven-time world champion Hendry, who addressed Brecel’s troubles in a recent episode of the Snooker Club podcast.

And he harbours reservations over whether the 30-year-old will return to any significant standard within the sport.

Hendry said: “We’ve talked about Luca a lot since winning the world title. Will he ever come back to that level?

“I saw a picture on his Instagram saying he was going to ‘work, work, work’. With Luca, I don’t know what that means. Does it mean half an hour?

“Are we ever going to see him back in the semi-finals or finals of a tournament? It’s scandalous (how far he’s fallen).”

This article was initially published by the Daily Record.