Luca Brecel has been told by Stephen Hendry that his snooker career has “fallen off a cliff”, with the seven-time world champion insisting it’s “frustrating” to watch the player in action. The Belgian landed his first World Snooker Championship title in 2023 but has since dedicated a lot of his time to training for Ironman events.

Brecel enjoyed an incredible 2022/23 season as he defeated Mark Selby in the showpiece match at the Crucible after winning the Championship League and reaching the final of the English Open.

But he has failed to progress beyond the quarter-final stage of any tournament since landing silverware in Sheffield and was dumped out of the 2024 World Championship in the first round.

And discussing the 29-year-old’s plight, Hendry explained on his self-named Stephen Hendry's Cue Tips YouTube channel: “He's fallen off a cliff. What a great player, though.

“It's very frustrating for me to watch him as someone who is so talented, who's still in his 20s, who could still for the next 10, 15 years win so many tournaments, earn so much money, and who doesn't seem interested.

“Everyone's got their one way of living their life, but at the end of the day you're so good at doing something, why would you not?”

Hendry then added: “It's a strange one, isn't it. He talks like he wants to do the Ironman and I'm like, 'You're a snooker player, mate'.

“I don't understand it, but if he's happy he's happy. But I just think he's so good, why would you not give your career everything for the next 10 years? Talent to burn.”

Brecel jetted off to Majorca in the autumn to train for an Ironman event and then flew in and out of Belfast on the same day when he played matches at the Northern Ireland Open.

And discussing his future in snooker during that tournament, he told the BBC: “I'm playing well enough - it's just about bringing my practice game to the match table, then I'll be okay. I just need to get on a run, that will come.

“I'm not worried about losing my Tour card as I would see it as a challenge to be in qualifying school. I'd love to play in Q school one day so maybe this is the right time. Obviously I'd love to stay on Tour as well so I'll try my best.”