John Higgins is planning to wind down his snooker schedule as he eyes up retirement in the next two years.
The legendary four-time world champion is 51 years old but still competing at the top of the sport, reaching the World Championship semi-finals this year.
The Wizard of Wishaw is ranked number six in the world, but still feels the time to hang up his cue is getting close.
Motivation to practice is low and he expects it to get lower when the practice base he shares with Stephen Maguire and Anthony McGill is no longer used later this year.
‘I think it’s hard to get yourself up for playing. That’s what I feel,’ Higgins told Metro.
‘Even the other boys in the unit, we’re giving that up this year, because they’ve got different things going on as well. Snooker’s maybe not their number one priority when we’re getting older. So, I’ll be going back into the house [to practise], and I think that’s when it could be tough.
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‘We’ll see how that pans out in the next year or so. It’s just difficult putting the work in.
‘But we’re lucky we’ve got so many tournaments. That substitutes practice. If there was only six or seven tournaments throughout the whole season, I think I could drop that stone.’
Higgins is still playing well, beating Hossein Vafaei and Noppon Saengkham in the British Open this week and into the last 32 on Thursday.
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That gets the juices flowing again, but he feels his standard at crunch moments has dipped a bit, which is tricky to accept even with the very good excuse of being 51 years old.
‘OK, you’re missing a couple of clutch things, but then when you manage to put a good couple of balls in, it gives you a wee bit of confidence again,’ he said.
