Snooker: New challenge awaits Higgins

Apr 11 2008 icWales

Defending world champion John Higgins will arrive in Sheffield without the burden he has had to carry since 1998 after finally becoming a two-time Crucible winner.

Good tour players have won world titles in the past, but rarely more than once.

Higgins has now savoured the winning experience twice, and if the first time gave the then 22-year-old a huge buzz, that was matched by the sense of relief which overcame the Scot last year.

It is safe to place him among the game’s modern greats now, but even though one monkey is off his back, the Wizard of Wishaw has a new challenge.

He was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours and at the time suggested previous recipients among his fellow players had been on the downhill slope.

But Higgins remains confident his second world title will not be his last, and as he heads to South Yorkshire the 32-year-old is relishing the mission to complete a career hat-trick.

"It’s almost 10 years now since I won my first one," he said.

"After that I just thought there would be many more to come. It was quite disheartening that it didn’t quite work out that way, but I managed to stay positive and luckily the second world title came along.

"I’d love to win another of course, that’s the target now.

"I know there’s always younger players coming through and I’m one of the oldest players in the top 16 now, but I don’t feel like my career is winding down."

Higgins, who was speaking after learning of his MBE award, had been expected in some quarters to dominate the World Championships after picking up his first title.

His compatriot Stephen Hendry had triumphed in six of the previous seven years at Sheffield, and Higgins looked to have the game to do likewise, even if Hendry remained a threat and Ronnie O’Sullivan threatened fireworks every time he approached the table.

And it was not as though Higgins went into steep decline. Indeed he took his total of ranking event titles to 17 and was hardly out of the world’s top six in the years between his world crowns.

Few fancied him particularly strongly at the Crucible last year though.

He was the fifth seed and 12 months previously had been knocked out in the first round by the little-known Leicestershire player Mark Selby. The aura surrounding him was fading.

Higgins breezed past Michael Holt and Fergus O’Brien in the opening two rounds, before knocking out O’Sullivan in the quarter-finals.

Even then, Higgins said it was "a load of rubbish" to suggest he had become favourite, and at 14-10 down in his semi-final against defending champion Shaun Murphy he looked to be heading home.

But Higgins turned that around to win 17-15, and then it was Selby, the emerging star of the 17-day tournament, who awaited in the final.

Higgins had to fight off a fine comeback by his underdog opponent during dramatic sessions on the May Day Bank Holiday Monday.

He sealed victory at 12:54am, the latest ever finish for a World Championship final, and admitted it was an endurance test he almost failed.

But Higgins is geared up for another marathon trip to the Steel City this year, and may need to find top gear in the first round to overcome his Welsh opponent, the two-time losing finalist Matthew Stevens.

Stevens finished runner-up in 2000 and 2005, and although he has not been so productive recently, the same can be said of Higgins himself this season.

The Scot’s form has fallen short of the standard he would have been looking for, however from the moment he walks out into the compact, familiar arena to face Stevens all the memories of 2007 will come rushing back.

His preparations for the clash with Stevens will be meticulous, for Higgins is determined to avoid another first-round exit.

"I can take a lot of positives from last year, I’m just hoping I can repeat the form I showed last year," Higgins said, after the draw was made.

"But it’s too tough a match to call."