Triumphant Higgins calls for day of rest for future world title finalists

Published on Tuesday 5 May 2009 23:00

JOHN Higgins has suggested shaking up the Betfred.com World Championship to allow the finalists a day off ahead of the biggest match of the season.

The Scot is convinced the player who completes his semi-final in the evening session on the day before the final is at a severe disadvantage for the title match. And his 18-9 demolition of Shaun Murphy in this year's Crucible showpiece added fresh weight to that argument.

Higgins had an afternoon finish to his match against Mark Allen in the last four. But Murphy, after coming through a gruelling semi-final against Neil Robertson on Saturday evening, was a shadow of the player who had produced devastating snooker in the earlier rounds as he crumbled against Higgins.

Now 33-year-old Higgins claims it would create a more competitive final if both players are given the chance for a breather. Referring to the duration of the tournament, Higgins said: "It's a long 17 days, of course it is. It might be beneficial to both players if they had a day off before the final.

"(Organisers could] maybe put on a seniors event or something similar which would bring the crowd in, and make it a lot of fun before the big match. It's harder for the second semi-final finisher."

Higgins was hailed by Murphy as the greatest tactician the game has ever seen following the one-sided final, and the Wishaw cueman has attributed his focus to a decision to stop drinking alcohol.

Although he allowed himself a drink to celebrate his world title, Higgins had abstained since Christmas and believes it has invigorated him. In 2006 he and Ken Doherty were ordered to leave an aeroplane after complaints were made about their behaviour. Both had been drinking and Higgins has since admitted the incident was embarrassing.

Now he is sure that cutting drink out of his life has had a positive effect. "I think it has," he said. "A couple of years ago I went off alcohol for about a year. It's a lifestyle thing. I've got kids and a family and I'm not going out willy-nilly for a couple of days.

"I've got a family lifestyle, and it can't do my snooker any harm because I've got a fresh head in the morning for when I go out and practice, whereas previously there were some days when I got up and said, 'I'll give it a miss today'."

Having wrapped up the third world title of his career, Higgins has set himself the challenge of finding the first world champion from mainland Europe, where interest in snooker has never been higher.

He co-promotes the new overseas World Series of Snooker events, and admits nothing would give him greater pleasure than discovering and nurturing a future winner of the World Championship.

"It would mean everything," Higgins said. "There are no great players there as yet, but who knows what will happen in the next 10 or 15 years.

"It has gone fantastically well. I've been to Copenhagen, Israel and Prague and so many places where I didn't think snooker would have existed.

"When we went to Moscow there was a crowd of 1,000 people to watch me and Ding Junhui in the final."

He has identified Belgium's European Under-19 champion Luca Brecel as a player to watch, along with 14-year-old Shachar Ruberg from Israel.

"If we can give them more chances of playing on the stage and in match conditions that can only help them," Higgins said.

Higgins insists the World Series is not designed to rival events on the World Snooker calendar. "That's not what we're about. We're doing something totally different," he said. "We're just trying to take tournaments to the countries that are crying out for it.

"The countries really love it and if it makes snooker more popular in these countries then everybody is winning."

Murphy complimented his conqueror, saying: "With the utmost respect, I don't think there's a player who has competed here who wouldn't say he's the best tactician they've ever played against. I think if you had put Higgins in the 1980s he would have won everything."