ZUTENDAAL - He doesn't make a secret that he's longing for his come-back at the billiard table. The multiple Belgian and European champion Patrick Niessen (55) spends his time these days more as the owner and manager of a huge billiard business than balancing on the chalk lines of the match table showing his famous skills and high runs as a balk-line specialist. For almost one year now, Niessen, like all his colleagues in billiards cafés, has been forced to take a long break because of the COVID crisis. He's yearning for the new start and most of all for his come-back at the billiard tables. ''I missed it, the competition, the rivalry, the wonderful classic games'', he says wistfully, from the terrace overlooking the serene silence of the region.
The last Belgian title dates from almost two years ago, the first, temporary return is planned for the Classic Race Challenge in the game discipline 47/2, which is organised by Kozoom and the CEB from 26-28 March. The top European players have been invited. Patrick Niessen, a world class player, will not be missing on this stage. ''My training hours are focused at playing top level there again'', says the Belgian champion with 38 titles in his own country, 10 European titles and 3 Master titles on his rich record.
He battled it out many, many times with his rivals, in the Belgian arenas with Frédéric Caudron, Eddy Leppens, Peter De Backer, Johan Claessen, Philip Deraes and other well known players, outside the Belgian borders with De Bruijn, Faus, Tilleman, Mata Gretillat, Christiani, Cuenca, Soumagne, Nockemann and other greats. His first major title, he recalls, was one of the most memorable in free game at the European Championships in a final match against Dutch René Luijsterburg: ''I won all my games, not even one in one inning, but all in two innings. That felt fantastic, celebrate your first major European Championship like that.
Many more followed: most of all at the Belgian championships in Blankenberge, where the Multi's were played for many years. Patrick Niessen, the virtuoso, was one of the great stars for whom spectators from home and abroad came to the full stands. The specialty of the master? Brilliant runs on the lines, near the short rails, in the anchors, compact and subtle, balancing on millimeters and with fantastic shots to bring the balls together. Patrick Niessen brought fans and spectators in ecstasy.
That monotonous rhythm is no longer there, the feeling, the form and the high class games will soon be back when he returns to the blue cloths. ''I still feel very good, I long to show it'', says Niessen, who played in the Belgian championships for 22 years with only one year break. All those years, he lived as a professional billiard player, sponsored by his teams, especially in Holland, the Etikon team with which he won European titles.
Highlights in that career? ''The first thing that comes to my mind is the European Championship 71/2 in Servera, 2005. I played the 250 points in the semi-final against Marek Faus in one inning. And so subtle and at high speed, that I did not leave the anchor at all. Jean Marty, the French celebrity, the former world champion, was watching it and said after the match: I have never seen this before.'' It was a field of 48 players in that European event, all of whom Niessen left behind with a win in the final match against Esteve Mata.
He fully admits that he has been more a bar owner than a billiard player in these recent years. The famous billiard room 'Keuvel-aer' (four match tables, five small tables), in Zutendael with some 7500 inhabitants, was a very busy cafe before the COVID crisis with some 100 club members from the Maaslandse Biljart Academie, Sint Jozef and De Ketsers. The best-known players included Mathy Monnissen, Maarten Janssen and some years ago Kenny Miatton. Many billiard players came here to practice or play matches before the crisis.
A fortnight ago, there was a sudden a little panic in billiard circles. Patrick Niessen had put his business up for sale! Was it the result of the corona crisis, of the closure of the café since last year, of many months without competition and making money? ''No, it's not the real reason'', he assures. ''I actually want to see if there is any interest, I told that to an estate agent. He immediately said, we'll see what comes up. I don't expect any potential buyers, certainly not in these difficult times for our business. So, I may well stay in for another five years.''
He admits: ,,I have a lot of time now to think about things. I'm doing a lot of walking, a lot of cooking, that's what I like to do. And I realize that life in this business, when it reopens, hopefully on 1st of May, is hard to do all alone. On 1 March, I was in the business for four years now. I have a girlfriend, Renilde, since one and a half years. I live near the cafe, she's living twenty kilometers from there in Zonhoven. We spend some time together, but she doesn't want to be in the business, she did enough work before. When there was no crisis, I opened at 1 o'clock in the afternoon until closing time. I had some people in the staff, but I did it most of all on my own. That's why I said, after all those months of being closed: we'll put it up for sale''.
''I now spend some training hours now, regularly, to prepare for the tournament. I have time to think, about my future and all things coming up. But also about billiards. It's a real pity that the balk-line games and the classics are doomed to disappear. The UMB, the world federation, does nothing for the classical players. It's all, and I can understand that, focused on three cushion nowadays. I myself have had the chance to play three cushion. I think it was ten years ago, but then I just got the offer to be the national coach in the Netherlands. After that, it was too late to take a serious shot at the top. I did play it, I got around 1 average, but that is far away from being a top player.''
Patrick Niessen, speaking frankly, doesn't see chances for young players anymore, because the classic disciplines are dying out. ''We have put all our energy into it. From the age of eleven, I had to choose between football and billiards and I spent lots of time on billiards. But nobody will do that anymore. All things has changed in billiards in a few turbulent years, with the UMB, with the PBA, with the start and rise of the Koreans and the Korean organization. It doesn't seem that well with all the fights among each other, that childish behavior. The world's top players should be allowed to play anywhere in the world, shouldn't they?''
Thanks Patrick Niessen, for this candid interview.
The specialist Patrick Niessen is about to come back to the tables