Snooker news: 'Better than ever' - Examining what makes John Higgins such an ageless wonder

John Higgins turns 47 in May, an age at which great players would once be furiously treading water, trying to stem an inevitable decline. Higgins, though, believes he is playing better than ever. This season he has appeared in five finals.

He lost the first four but finally came good at the Championship League earlier this month. Anyone familiar with Higgins knows he is not a boaster. Quite the opposite, actually.

So if the Scot genuinely feels his game is stronger than it has ever been it must make him a serious contender for the world title in two months’ time. Ad/> Higgins is snooker’s man for all seasons. He has enjoyed an unbroken spell in the elite top 16 for a record 27 years without once coming close to dropping out.

He enters this week’s European Masters in sixth position, repelling old father time and the various younger challengers who simply don’t possess his mastery of match-play. European MastersEuropean Masters LIVE — Selby and Trump get campaigns underway, O'Sullivan to come7 HOURS AGO The Wishaw man has prevailed in 31 ranking events, putting him third behind Ronnie O’Sullivan (38) and Stephen Hendry (36) on the all-time list. He is second behind O’Sullivan on the list of century break makers and for maximums.

Higgins was nine years old when his father, John senior, took him and his brother to a local snooker club. It was somewhere for the boys to be occupied while their dad caught up with his friends. This was the mid-1980s.