John Higgins candidly reveals retirement plans with snooker legend admitting ‘that’s when it could be tough’

SNOOKER legend John Higgins could retire in the next two years – and admits to hating practice. The four-time world champ, 51, is already cutting down his schedule and has a plan in place for calling it quits completely. John Higgins has a retirement plan in place Credit: PA The snooker ace is being kept alive by competitions and doesn’t want to practice Credit: Getty Higgins told The Metro: “I think it’s hard to get yourself up for playing. That’s what I feel. “Even the other boys in the unit, we’re giving that up this year, because they’ve got different things going on as well. Sign up for the Sport newsletter Thank you! “Snooker’s maybe not their number one priority when we’re getting older. “So, I’ll be going back into the house [to practise], and I think that’s when it could be tough. “We’ll see how that pans out in the next year or so. It’s just difficult putting the work in. “But we’re lucky we’ve got so many tournaments. That substitutes practice. “If there was only six or seven tournaments throughout the whole season, I think I could drop that stone.” Scot Higgins, who has been playing as a pro for over three decades, beat Hossein Vafdaei and Noppon Saengkham in the British Open this week to reach the last-32. Most read in Sport BEST ONLINE CASINOS – TOP SITES IN THE UK Best sport travel offers HERE are our top picks of the best sport travel trips this summer. We have teamed up with some of the UK’s finest travel firms to come up with these offers. 🏎️ SEE the Singapore Grand Prix with tickets, flights and 5 nights in a top hotel for just £1,640pp. – – MORE DETAILS HERE 🏇 TREAT yourself to a trip to Champions Day at Ascot – – MORE DETAILS HERE 🎯 WATCH the world’s finest darts players go head to head at Butlin’s Minehead at the PDC Championship Finals – – MORE DETAILS HERE * If you click on a link we will earn affiliate revenue. But he will not be at the English Open next week and is carving up his calendar. He explained: “I’m not playing in the English, and my thought process now is, I’ll play in so many events and then in the next maybe two years, I’ll just retire. “I think it’ll be hard to play a lot of events and then just shut it right off. I think it might help to taper off. “If I’m not playing so many events, see how I’m feeling, but I’ll probably take it [retirement] better. “I think it’ll be the next couple of years. I think so. Obviously Ronnie [O’Sullivan] says he’s thinking about going around 2028, so I’ll just slip out the back door.” The Rocket’s own future has long been in question and Higgins has reached the same point. He went on: “It’s tough. I don’t want to start coming to tournaments and hating the competing side, because that’s what I’ve always enjoyed. “There has to come a point, I think, that you’ve got to say enough is enough. “I think subconsciously I will know that and I’m getting to a stage where I could be near the end.” And how would he fill his time away from the table? “My wife will find plenty of fun stuff. “We might go to Australia and different things, see a bit of the world with each other. “Obviously the kids are off now and looking after themselves, at uni and different things, and moving on with their lives.” But Higgins, currently ranked No6 and still able to mix it with the big boys – he was a World Championship semi-finalist earlier this year – still gets a big kick from matches against the best. He said: “Ok, you’re missing a couple of clutch things, but then when you manage to put a good couple of balls in, it gives you a wee bit of confidence again. “That’s just what it’s going to be the rest of your career, I think. There’ll be good moments, but there’ll be bad moments as well. “But I’ve been a competitor for so many years and people say: ‘Just go out and enjoy it.’ “You cannot change who you are. If you’ve been a person who wants to give your all, and you want to go out there and play, it’s very hard to just say: ‘It’s OK, I don’t mind losing, who cares?’ “Of course you mind losing! So it’s difficult.” List of all-time Snooker World Champions BELOW is a list of snooker World Champions by year. The record is for the modern era, widely considered as dating from the 1968-69 season, when the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) took control of the sport. The first World Championships ran from 1927 – with a break from 1941-45 because of World War II and 1958-63 because of a dispute in the sport. Joe Davis (15), Fred Davis and John Pulman (both 8) were the most successful players during that period. Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan share the record for the most titles in the modern era, with seven each. 1969 – John Spencer 1970 – Ray Reardon 1971 – John Spencer 1972 – Alex Higgins 1973 – Ray Reardon (2) 1974 – Ray Reardon (3) 1975 – Ray Reardon (4) 1976 – Ray Reardon (5) 1977 – John Spencer (2) 1978 – Ray Reardon (6) 1979 – Terry Griffiths 1980 – Cliff Thorburn 1981 – Steve Davis 1982 – Alex Higgins (2) 1983 – Steve Davis (2) 1984 – Steve Davis (3) 1985 – Dennis Taylor 1986 – Joe Johnson 1987 – Steve Davis (4) 1988 – Steve Davis (5) 1989 – Steve Davis (6) 1990 – Stephen Hendry 1991 – John Parrott 1992 – Stephen Hendry (2) 1993 – Stephen Hendry (3) 1994 – Stephen Hendry (4) 1995 – Stephen Hendry (5) 1996 – Stephen Hendry (6) 1997 – Ken Doherty 1998 – John Higgins 1999 – Stephen Hendry (7) 2000 – Mark Williams 2001 – Ronnie O’Sullivan 2002 – Peter Ebdon 2003 – Mark Williams (2) 2004 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (2) 2005 – Shaun Murphy 2006 – Graeme Dott 2007 – John Higgins (2) 2008 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (3) 2009 – John Higgins (3) 2010 – Neil Robertson 2011 – John Higgins (4) 2012 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (4) 2013 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (5) 2014 – Mark Selby 2015 – Stuart Bingham 2016 – Mark Selby (2) 2017 – Mark Selby (3) 2018 – Mark Williams (3) 2019 – Judd Trump 2020 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (6) 2021 – Mark Selby (4) 2022 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (7) 2023 – Luca Brecel 2024 – Kyren Wilson 2025 – Zhao Xintong 2026 – Wu Yize Most World Titles (modern era) 7 – Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O’Sullivan 6 – Ray Reardon, Steve Davis 4 – John Higgins, Mark Selby 3 – John Spencer, Mark Williams 2 – Alex Higgins Comment now