John Higgins is planning to wind down his snooker schedule as he eyes up retirement in the next two years.
The legendary four-time world champion is 51 years old but still competing at the top of the sport, reaching the World Championship semi-finals this year.
The Wizard of Wishaw is ranked number six in the world, but still feels the time to hang up his cue is getting close.
Motivation to practice is low and he expects it to get lower when the practice base he shares with Stephen Maguire and Anthony McGill is no longer used later this year.
‘I think it’s hard to get yourself up for playing. That’s what I feel,’ Higgins told Metro.
‘Even the other boys in the unit, we’re giving that up this year, because they’ve got different things going on as well. 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.
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‘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.’
Higgins is still playing well, beating Hossein Vafaei and Noppon Saengkham in the British Open this week and into the last 32 on Thursday.
That gets the juices flowing again, but he feels his standard at crunch moments has dipped a bit, which is tricky to accept even with the very good excuse of being 51 years old.
‘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,’ he said.
‘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.’
In a bid to ease himself out of the professional game that he has been playing for 34 years, Higgins will play fewer tournaments than usual over the next two years, starting with missing the English Open next week.
‘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 says he’s thinking about going around 2028, so I’ll just slip out the back door.’
Ronnie O’Sullivan has indeed suggested 2028 could be the year he retires, believing he has two more good chances at winning an eighth World Championship title.
Higgins still has the drive to compete for snooker’s biggest titles, but he feels it will ebb away soon.
‘It’s tough,’ he said. ‘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.’
On what would come next, he is not sure in terms of work, but will have plenty to do away from snooker.
‘My wife will find plenty of fun stuff,’ he said. ‘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.’