John Higgins makes brutal World Snooker Championship admission

Scottish snooker star John Higgins has admitted the belief he can win a famous fifth World Championship is slowly dwindling as the years go by.

But the Wizard of Wishaw, 48, has linked up with a sports psychologist in his bid to conjure up another Crucible crown. Snooker’s spiritual Sheffield home is a 17-day marathon of the mind as much as the body. And even the greatest players ever have wanted the ground to swallow them up at the intimate venue as matches and titles have slipped away from their grasp.

Higgins will be making his 30th straight Crucible appearance against tough Welsh qualifier Jamie Jones, who dumped out 2010 champion Neil Robertson in the final round of qualifying. And world No.13 Higgins revealed: “The belief I can win it again is getting less and less if I’m being totally honest. It’s getting harder and harder as the years go on. But you never give up do you.

“I’ve spent 30 years going to the Crucible and it is where you really need that mental side. It’s a difficult tournament, it really is. It’s a very enjoyable tournament obviously because it’s your final tournament of the year, and you want to put everything into it.

“But it is difficult, it’s difficult when you get down to that final weekend. Everybody’s trying to get down to that one-table set-up. It’s hard there. I’m really enjoying working on the mental side. It’s something that’s still quite new to myself.

“I’m just trying something different to give yourself a fresh impetus into the game. Sometimes you need that. I’ve probably got stuck in a routine and got a bit lazy over the years and continually doing the same thing. Sometimes you just need something new to try and that’s what I’m doing.”

Higgins last Crucible triumph came back in 2011, the last of three stunning victories in a fantastic five-year burst on the game’s grandest stage. Since then he has suffered agony in three successive finals between 2017-2019 and two seasons ago missed out on a ninth showpiece following a frustrating 17-11 semi-final defeat to rival Ronnie O’Sullivan.

But what a fitting way it would be to end a painful three-year wait for a special 32nd ranking title. The Scot still possesses an undoubted desire to get his hands on silverware again. Although, Higgins admits he is struggling with the monotony of practicing for hours on end in a dark snooker room.

“You enjoy competing and you enjoy playing,” insisted Higgins. “I know I keep on saying it. But, it’s the other side of it. It’s the practice side of it I struggle with now. It gets more difficult as you get older.

“You’ve got to be putting the hours into your practice to then compete with the best players in the world. I think that’s what stops you when you get to a certain age because you just can’t put those same hours in that you used to when you were younger.

“It’s not like golf where you can go out to different golf courses. You’re stuck in that snooker room and itcan be pretty soulless sometimes. That’s the long and short of it. It’s just the way it is.”