Four-time world snooker champion John Higgins bowed out of the Crucible following defeat to Mark Williams, but he has proved one of his doubters wrong nonetheless
John Higgins has launched a comeback since Mark Allen suggested it was "sad" to see the snooker legend struggle
Snooker icon John Higgins has been playing like a man possessed since Mark Allen suggested he was "sad" watching 'The Wizard of Wishaw' struggle for results.
Allen made the comment after beating one of snooker's greatest servants in the first round of the 2024 Masters, at which point Higgins was three years removed from his most recent ranking title. The 49-year-old Scot ended that drought this past March when he beat Joe O'Connor to clinch the World Open title.
And although his 2025 World Snooker Championship ended with a quarter-final defeat to Mark Williams on Wednesday, his displays in Sheffield have proved he's not to be discounted just yet.
"I know that John had his chances and I feel for John. Not out there I didn't, I wanted him to miss every shot he played, but I feel for him now," said Allen almost 18 months ago. "He's a really good guy, and he looks like someone who is just struggling to get over the line. If he just believed in himself a bit more, he'd be winning tournaments again."
While those remarks may have been intended as encouragement towards his peer, it wasn't long after that there was talk of Higgins retiring from the sport. And the veteran himself appeared to hint at a permanent exit after losing to Allen once more at the 2024 Tour Championship, just a few months after his rival's "sad" comments.
"I’ve always said to myself I’d love to still be a seed and in the top 16 competing at the Masters when I’m 50," said the Scot, who will turn 50 in May. "Staying in that bracket throughout my whole career would be a good milestone.
"If I reach that one, then I’ll maybe be looking to see where my life is at that moment. Not my snooker life but my personal one."
Fast forward to today, however, and it's evident Higgins' place is on the World Snooker Tour competing with the best in the business. The finest of margins kept him from reaching a 12th World Championship semi-final after a clutch miss on the blue saw him succumb 13-12 to Williams.
Despite the end result, the performance was the latest in a list of impressive showings this season. And there appears to be at least some overlap between Allen's pointed remark on Higgins' confidence and the recent pick-up in his play.
It wasn't long after his win at the World Open that Higgins followed up with another major win at this year's Tour Championship at the beginning of April. In fact, the Lanarkshire legend has made it to at least the last eight of the last five consecutive ranking tournaments.
As well as Allen's comment possibly acting as motivation in itself, it seems too coincidental that results have picked up for Higgins in the year or so since he started consulting a sports psychologist. It was at the start of 2024 that The Wizard of Wishaw revealed he was receiving aid on the mental side of his game to dispel some "negative thoughts".
"I’m speaking to someone because there has been negative thoughts," he told Metro in February last year. "There’s no beating about the bush, obviously in the last week while I’ve lost some big matches, and they would always surface, every time, so I’m trying to speak to someone about that, having more positive thoughts and who knows?"
The snooker world at large now has at least some idea following his pick-up in results this season. Ronnie O'Sullivan is another firm advocate for employing a mentality coach after his work with Dr. Steve Peters, with 'The Rocket' on the verge of reaching the World Championship semis himself
"I've had a good season, the atmosphere out there was incredible, a standing ovation walking in," Higgins told the BBC following his agonising defeat to Williams, choosing to focus on the positives of the day. "There's no better place to play, win or lose."
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