Higgins hopes practice makes perfect

Tue, 07 Feb 09:48:00 2012

John Higgins goes into the defence of his Welsh Open title next week aiming to lift his first trophy of the season.

John Higgins (xCHN) - 0

The Scot dominated snooker for much of last season, winning the World and UK titles as well as the Welsh crown. But so far this term, Higgins has not reproduced the same form, and has not won a tournament since last May.

The 36-year-old hopes that will change at the Newport Centre as he seeks to become the first player ever to win the Welsh Open three consecutive times. And Higgins is planning a change to his practice regime to give himself fresh impetus.

"I don’t practise as hard as I used to when I was young. But that could change soon because I’m having a snooker room built at my house," said Higgins, who beat Stephen Maguire in last year's final in Newport and Ali Carter in 2010.

"Over the Christmas period I was sitting at home and it would have been a good time to have two or three hours a day of practice without having to go to the club. I ended up going into the Masters with only a few hours practice under my belt, which cost me.

"I’d always felt in the past that I wanted to go to the club to practise, as if I was going to work. But the likes of Graeme Dott, Stephen Maguire and Stephen Hendry all have tables at home so I feel now as if I should have one as well. It would be great if we had an academy in Scotland where we could all play together, but there isn’t anything like that at the moment."

Higgins has lost none of his enthusiasm for the game and is looking forward to the Welsh Open, which runs from February 13 to 19.

"Snooker’s got a bit of a buzz at the moment," he added. "The tour is growing and there are some great players coming through. It’s an exciting time to be a player and hopefully to be a fan as well. Anyone who comes to Newport is going so see brilliant matches. And it’s fast moving action as well because the matches are best of seven frames."

Alongside Higgins, the likes of Ronnie O'Sullivan, Judd Trump, Stephen Maguire, Neil Robertson, Mark Selby and home favourites Mark Williams and Matthew Stevens will be battling for the world ranking title.

Eurosport

Comment 1 - 9 of 9

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  1. The 8 peopLe that made those comments,why don,t you aII­ just shut up,and try and find a Iife.

    you shouId­ Iisten to yourseIfs!! its Iike Iistening to a broken­ record BORING.

    From jason.bat21, on Wed 15 Feb 3:16

  2. Doh.

    From tuggo, on Mon 13 Feb 7:29

  3. Dear Mr Tuggo.
    The expression is a mere "Figure of­ Speech" Sir as every player practices hard­ including practiceing his many faults.
    By the way Mr­ Tuggo a specific shot successful 4 times out of 5 is a­ very bad Fault in professional snooker and is seldom­ pin pinted by the player and could be practiced for­ ever. Mr Hey You

    From Mr hey you, on Sat 11 Feb 19:36

  4. dirty cheat

    From Nicholas, on Fri 10 Feb 0:37

  5. Mr hey you. How can you ever have a dead heat in­ snooker when the match is over an odd number of frames?

    From tuggo, on Thu 9 Feb 7:16

  6. Which bookmaker paid for that snooker room unwittingly?

    From tuggo, on Thu 9 Feb 6:35

  7. New snooker room in the house!? Wow!!! That 5-0 in­ Germany must have really paid off.

    From Savant, on Wed 8 Feb 1:53

  8. Bribery makes perfect

    From osulllivan, on Tue 7 Feb 21:16
  9. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Snooker The Fine Art Copyright.
    Extra practice does not­ make winners or we would have a twenty man dead heat­ every tournament.
    Detailing the shot that is successful­ only four times out of five is a fault that is often­ practiced Mr Hey You

    From Mr hey you, on Tue 7 Feb 20:42
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