“I can only play how I can,” says Nick Brett ahead of first round singles clash

Nick Brett is back in action at Potters tomorrow, taking on Andy Squire in the first round of the singles.

‘The former world champion has slipped alarmingly down the rankings since his 2016 success and it would take a brave man to back the Huntingdon ace to repeat his victory of three years ago,’ writes Dom Picksley.
Down to ninth on the provisional list, his lowest position since 2013,
his form has really tailed off since his Potters triumph and,
amazingly, he has not beaten a fellow top-16 player since edging past
Les Gillett in the 2016 Scottish International Open, not that all this
keeps him awake at night.
“I’m not concerned about dropping down the rankings, as long as I’m in
the top 16 I’m okay with whether it’s one, two or 15,” insisted the
ever-honest 44-year-old.

“Everybody in there is difficult to be beat and it’s proved that way the last year or so for me.
“I think if I rank in between six and 12 in the world, that’s probably
about right as I think I’ve been number one, but was I the best player
in the world? No I wasn’t. For someone of my standard, I’ve done
alright. Maybe in the last couple of years I may not have beat a
top-16 ranked player, but they are all pretty good players and I think
if you analyse everybody’s stats, a lot of players will have had a bad
couple of years, an okay couple of years and a good couple of years.
It goes round in cycles.
“I’m not going to worry about ranking points too much, either, when
I’m still in front of Alex Marshall. He’s done probably more in the
game than any other player who has lived. The rankings don’t lie, but
it’s not easy winning a tournament against those players. They are
pretty tidy.”
Brett’s first-round scenario is unlike anybody else’s as he has had to
wait until the round-robin preliminaries are played to find out who he
will be playing.

Andy Squire emerged from field, which included the four overseas players – Charlie Herbert (USA), Malcolm Whyte (Canada), Lawrence Hurwitz (Israel) and Jordi Lo (Hong Kong).

Nick said: “Andy as the UK based player was the favourite to win. He’s a good player and I’ve got to gear myself up to play him. I can only play how I can, I cannot control the way he (my opponent) plays.
“I wouldn’t bother going if I didn’t think I could win it. I have proved I have the game to win it, but everybody needs a bit of lady luck as well. If its your year, it’s your year. When and if I win another one, it will be pretty nice and taken in the course its due. If I do win another one then I’ll consider it a massive achievement because those boys we play against are world-class players.”