Scotland’s former world snooker champion John Higgins continues to change his cue with alarming regularity, but past winner Joe Johnson has warned the Scot to stop making excuses and accept the reality of his advancing years.
Now 38 and a four-time Crucible champion, Higgins’s world ranking has slipped down to 10, a worrying trend for a man who has not been outside the top 11 in the world game since the 1996-97 season.
Three seasons ago Higgins returned from a six-month ban from the sport to claim the UK and world crowns and cement his place among the game’s greats. But what has followed in the last couple of campaigns has been less memorable, Higgins falling in the first round at the Crucible this year and the second round at the UKs.
In this fallow period the man they call the Wizard of Wishaw began changing his cue in an attempt to rediscover the potting magic of old.
The start of this season has been no different, Higgins showing signs of the class of old in making the final of the Wuxi Classic in China.
But with a new cue at the Shanghai Masters, Higgins went out in the second round before insisting he will be changing his equipment again in time for the UK championships at the end of this month.
Johnson, 61, who won his solitary world title in 1986, insists Higgins must stop blaming his tools and take a look in the mirror.
“I think John has changed his cue twice now and that is an indication he is searching for something that is not there,” he said.
“It’s not the cue, it obviously cannot be that because the cue he had stood him in such good stead all the way through his career, he’s just looking for someone or something to blame.
“There’s nothing you can do to save your eyes, once you start losing your near vision – it happens slowly and you don’t realise.
“You can never say that John is finished, he is such a great all-round player, but each year that goes by makes it harder and harder for him.
“He loves the scrap, he is such a winner and is so high up on the all-time tournament wins that he will always pose a threat.
“I’m sure he looks at Ronnie O’Sullivan going up to five world titles and I’m sure he is desperate to win another to get back up there. He’s slipped to number four in the all-time greats.”
The next big tournament on the schedule comes at the end of this month with the UK championships, the first of the annual Triple Crown that includes the Masters and the worlds.
Johnson, whose world title success was the sole ranking event win of his career, admits it is hard to pick a winner in the new open-draw format which no longer means the top 16 are guaranteed a berth in the later rounds.
“It starts off as best of 11 frames and I’m a little sad to see it because I always liked it to be best of 17s at the UK and worlds,” he added.
“I thought those two shouldn’t be touched but it does mean that it all depends on the draw now which is exciting.”