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EXCLUSIVE! John Higgins has admitted that all the work he is doing behind the scenes has affected his form as he looks to turn his season around at the Grand Prix in Glasgow.

The two-times world champion arrived in Glasgow after a trip to Poland to promote the latest round of his World Series which takes place in Warsaw at the end of the month.

So far this season Higgins has reached the semi-finals at the Northern Ireland Trophy before being upset by Ryan Day in the last 16 of the Shanghai Masters.

"I admit my form has been a bit mixed this year," he told Eurosport.

"In Ireland I felt I was playing quite well before losing to David Harold but I didn't have the right preparation for Shanghai.

"I was out in Israel for five days just before the tournament and then I arrived in China five days before the event to do some promotional work so I wasn't full focused for the event.

"It is something I have to look at, I'm still committed to being a professional snooker player but I've also decided to take on this extra work behind the scenes so it is a case of picking and choosing what I want to do.

"At the moment though I'm not getting the enough time to practice so some things will have to change."

However, while Higgins did promise to shake up his schedule, he also said he was still very much committed to his off-table activates as he continues his quest to globalise the sport.

"I've been doing more promotion work in Warsaw so that is affecting my build-up for the Grand Prix, but the thing is, I really enjoy doing this other work too.

"I see it as a similar thing to a professional footballer near the end of his career, taking out his coaching badges.

"He might have to go off and do more work after training, and this is a little like that.

"Hopefully, I'm not near the end of my career and I have many successful years to come, but I have seen it down the years many times that when snooker players end their careers they often fall lame unless they find work in the media.

"I don't want that to happen to me, I want to stay in the sport, and keep helping its development."

Higgins opens his Grand Prix campaign against Anthony Hamilton before the tournament adopts an open draw format and the Scot is confident he can at least climb the first hurdle.

"I have a pretty good record against Anthony, we have had some tough matches, but I've beaten him most times we have played."

Watch live coverage from the Grand Prix from Saturday on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click on the link under the picture to subscribe.

Or watch the action on British Eurosport - available in the UK on Sky channel 410 and Virgin Media channel 521 or British Eurosport 2 - available on Sky 411 and Virgin Media 525

Seán Fay / Eurosport