LIEGE - When you ask him: what's the reason that you couldn't continue the successes, that brought you to the world top from 2005 until 2008? Roland Forthomme will give you a clear and honest answer. ,,I'm a very sensitive person, when something is wrong in my head, I know that I'm mentally vulnerable too, that's the main reason that I dropped on the ranking.''
The 40-year-old Belgian billiard player is the defending champion and one of the favorites for the Superprestige in Lommel which is starting tonight with the qualifications. He realizes again how important it is to be back on top quickly. ,,The ball is in my camp,'' is one of his typical statements. He always seems powerful: ,,Because I'm not dead, you know...'', says the man from Liege with the character of a big fighter.
He knows very well, that it's especially the mental strength that let him down at the billiard. ,,It's in my head, I know that, some changes in my life, such as playing with glasses. I have found the right glasses, but I still feel that I don't play like before since those glasses. I need more time for the shot, I can't find my rhythm like I did before. That's a nonstop feeling in my head. I must learn to forget that and have more confidence. I must feel good to play well, the same I have with the teams which I'm playing for. When it's not the atmosphere that I like, then I leave and look for another challenge.''
Roland Forthomme, it is so often said, is a player of extremes, of great matches, for example in an unforgettable match against Torbjörn Blomdahl in the Dutch league, in the strong performances in the Agipi Masters and above all in the World Cups in Hurghada (2005), Volos (2006) and the Sang Lee tournament in New York (2008) which he all won.
Three years later, the record list is only enriched with highlights in the Superprestige, on the international podium, Forthomme has made a relapse. ,,I'm worried about it sometimes, sometimes I'm not. My first concern is obviously the financial effort that I must do. I'm going to the World Cup in Hurghada latrer this year, but I have to pay everything for myself. The World Cup in Korea, the World championship in Lima, don't think it's easy for me. But luckily I have the foreign leagues where I play.''
In the Netherlands he started as the frontman for Snellen Recycling with a win against Kurt Ceulemans yesterday (Sunday), in France, he plays for the team Kozoom, in Spain for Coral Colon and in Portugal for Sporting Lisbon in Portugal.
Each league and each country have their own culture to play billiards. Forthomme: ,,In the Netherlands we play at the highes level and always with pressure every weekend. In Belgium we play on Monday and is often pleasant after a tough weekend with a glass of beer afterwards. In France, we eat together after the matches, I often stay there to sleep, and as a French-speaking man, I feel very well at home there. In Spain we play in a polo shirt, usually with many young players in a sunny country. And we have a chance to win the title. And in Portugal we usually play two weeks, we stay there and play for the title in the biggest stadium of the country. That's magnificent, it's my favorite country.''
Tonight he starts in his own country in the preliminary rounds of the Superprestige, the tournament in which he was one of the absolute top players in the past five years. Forthomme plays in a group of four with Peter de Backer, Frédéric Mottet and Wesley Jaeger, coincidentally, three of the four players are of the French team of Kozoom.
,,I am not Philippe Gilbert (the famous cyclist who lives not so far away), so I'm not a big favorite because I won three times in five years. The Belgian billiard is on a very high level, so there are many contenders. Frédéric Caudron, Eddy Merckx and Eddy Leppens of course, but also Peter de Backer, Francis Forton, Jef Philipoom and Peter Ceulemans.''
The Superprestige is always the tournament of the upcoming youth players this year, with Frédéric Mottet, Wesley de Jaeger, Davy van Havere and Steven Acker, who all have been seeded. ,,They are all players who can make a big progress in one or two years.''
The tournament starts at 18.00 tonight with the group of Roland Forthomme. The matches will be broadcasted live on Kozoom and can be followed by Premium pass holders.