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Who is John Higgins?
John Higgins, known as the “Wizard of Wishaw” in the snooker community, is one of the best players to ever grace the game. John Higgins became the first player in major event history to record four successive century breaks. Breaks were observed at 103, 104, 138, and 128.
Similarly, he is one of only five players in history to have won both the World and the United Kingdom Championships in the same year.
Higgins’ service to the country earned him the honor of Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2008.
More information on the snooker champion may be found in this article.
Childhood and Background
John Higgins was born on May 18, 1975, in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, Scotland.
He grew up in the same city on the outskirts of the Clyde Valley.
He was the son of John Sr. and Josephine Higgins.
There is very little information available regarding his parents, personal lives, or childhood.
Similarly, his motivation for taking up snooker is unclear.
Nonetheless, John and his buddies began playing snooker at a young age.
As a result, this interest indirectly acted as training for him.
Higgins also learned that he was good at it and enjoyed himself while doing it.
As a result, when he was 16, he wanted to go pro.
He’d already won a couple of amateur events by this point.
He reached the quarterfinals of the British Open in his rookie season.
Unlike many other amateurs, John successfully transitioned into the professional world.
Promising Professional Career
In his snooker career, John Higgins had an interesting climb.
Higgins won his first ranking competition in the 1994/1995 season, two years after turning professional, at the Grand Prix.
Higgins won the match against Dave Harold when he was only 19 years old.
Since then, John has not looked back.
He went on to win two more ranking tournaments the following year.
He won the British Open and the International Open, as well as reaching the finals of the Welsh Open and the Masters.
His meteoric climb was truly astounding. By the end of the season, John had risen from 51st to 11th in the global rankings.
There was no stopping him after that.
As a result, at the end of the next season, he had risen to second in the world.
In the 1994/1995 season, he won two ranking crowns and another ranking final.
In addition, in 1998, John won his first World Championship. In the final, he defeated reigning champion, Ken Doherty.
He also set a new record with 14 centuries, which Hendry later surpassed.
As a result of winning the world title, Higgins became world number one for the first time.
In addition, he ended Stephen Hendry’s eight-year dominance at the top.
Keeping at the Top
Higgins held the World No. 1 ranking for two years before Mark Williams surpassed him at the end of the 1999-00 season.
In 2001, he reached the World Championship final but was defeated 14-18 by Ronnie O’Sullivan.
But he didn’t let this setback deter him from working harder than ever before.
As a result, John became the first player to win all three season events.
In the 2001-02 season, he set this record by winning the Champions Cup, Scottish Masters, and British Open.
Notably, a rivalry between John Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan was forming.
The duo appeared in the finals of the Masters Final in 2005 and 2006.
Ronnie defeated Higgins 3-10 in 2005.
Higgins, on the other hand, won the Masters for the second time in 2006 with a 64 clearance.
The Summit
The second half of the twenty-first century defined John Higgins as a player.
He reached the World Championship final in 2007 after defeating Ronnie O’Sullivan and Stephen Maguire.
John went on to win the finals and recover his world number one ranking by winning four consecutive frames.
Similarly, in the final, John overcame Shaun Murphy to win the World Championship 2009 for the third time.
In the 2009-10 season, he lost in the Grand Prix semi-finals to Neil Robertson.
Following that, he won the Welsh Open by defeating Allister Carter in the final 9-4.
In the World Championship, John was defeated in round two by Steve Davis.
Nonetheless, he concluded the season ranked first in the world.
A Chain of Unfortunate Events
The decade of 2010 could not have begun any worse.
Instead, it signaled the start of a difficult phase in Higgin’s snooker career.
John Higgins and his management were accused of match-fixing on May 2, 2010.
The News of the World confirmed this information through a sting operation.
As a result, he was suspended for six months and fined £75,000 in total.
On November 12, 2010, Higgins made his professional debut. He later won the Ruhr Championship.
Furthermore, his comeback was nothing short of a fairy tale comeback, as he won the 2010 U.K. Championship.
After dropping to third due to the ban, John earned enough points to restore his position as World No. 1.
2011 was a watershed moment in his career, as he won the World Championship for the fourth time.
To secure this victory, he defeated players including Stephen Lee and O’Sullivan.
His father, on the other hand, had been battling cancer for five years.
However, his health began to deteriorate shortly after he was suspected of match-fixing.
On February 4, 2011, he lost his father.
John regarded his father as a source of inspiration.
As a result, his form dropped dramatically after his father died.
Having a Slump
Following the death of his father, John Higgins had a difficult 2011-12 season.
Only two big-ranking tournaments saw him advance to the quarterfinals.
As a result, he finished the season ranked sixth in the world.
John was tired of resurging the following season, 2012-13, by winning the Shanghai Masters.
Higgins, on the other hand, was eliminated in the first round of the World Championship by Mark Davis.
As a result, he finished 11th, his first finish outside the top ten in 17 seasons.
The next season, 2013-14, he slid to 12th in the world rankings.
Since the Wuxi Classic in June 2013, John has not advanced past the round of 16.
During this difficult time, John suffered several defeats.
As a result, Higgins’ lack of confidence at the 2014 U.K. Championship was unsurprising.
Furthermore, there was concern that a poor showing would cost him his top-16 ranking and a position in the Masters.
Instead, he performed well enough to keep him in the top 16 following the race.
The Return
At the Welsh Open in 2015, he gradually regained his form and confidence.
He won his fourth Welsh Open title and his first ranking title in two and a half years.
Furthermore, he maintained this trend by winning the Australian Goldfields Open to kick off the 2015-16 season.
Similarly, he won the International Championship, his 28th ranking victory.
After everything he had gone through, John was rising again.
He won the China Championship and the Champion of Champions in 2016.
He reached the World Championship final for the sixth time in 2017.
He was unable to clinch the championship, though, as he was defeated by Mark Shelby.
In 2018, he repeated history by reaching the World Snooker Championship final.
This was his seventh World Championship final, but he was defeated by Mark Williams.
Furthermore, he came short of the title when Judd Trump defeated him in the finals.
This was his third consecutive World Championship final and his eighth overall.
John appears to be getting closer to the prize, but he continues falling short at the last step.
So he’ll have to wait a little longer before grabbing that summit again.
Match-Fixing Scandal and Controversy
The most severe setback to John Higgins’ career came when he and Pat Mooney were accused of match-fixing.
Mooney was his manager and a member of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association’s board of directors.
On April 30, an undercover team led by Mazher Mahmood paid a visit to the two in a Kyiv hotel room.
The crew pretended to be organizing World Series of Snooker-related activities.
Sources say John promised to lose four frames in four different tournaments.
However, they demanded an exchange for a total payment of €300,000.
As a result, John was promptly kicked out of the game.
On the same day, Higgins issued a statement denying any involvement.
He also stated that he chose to “play along” out of fear for his own safety.
David Douglas thoroughly investigated the claims.
There were also independent inquiries.
Both investigations decided that Higgins had accurately accounted for his remarks and actions.
Nonetheless, he was found guilty of generating the appearance that he would violate betting restrictions.
As a result, he was barred from participating in professional sports for six months.
Is John Higgins Married?
According to Webarchive and FreeLibrary, John has been married to Denise Higgins since 2000.
They also have three children, two sons, and one daughter.
Denise has known John since they were in high school together at Wishaw.
Nonetheless, he has not let his success get the best of him.
Denise has always described the Higgins family as ordinary people.
The family is always grounded and finds attention overpowering.
Lanarkshire’s separate, modern home is where the couple currently lives with their children.
They own a home in Marbella and spend their vacations there.
In addition, the duo has made cameo appearances.
In February 2010, John and his wife Denise appeared on ITV’s Mr. and Mrs.
After answering all of their questions correctly, they advanced to the finals, where they won £30,000 and gave it to The Dalziel Centre.
Height, Age, and Personality
Higgins is a snooker professional with a physique to match his athleticism on the table.
John is 47 years old right now. Higgins, on the other hand, appears to be in good enough shape to compete in the snooker scene.
He has considered retiring, but his passion for the game keeps him going.
He also weighs roughly 168 lb. (76 kg) and stands at an impressive 5 ft—88 in height (1.73 m).
His images reveal that he has kept himself up to the requirements of the professional league.
His exact body measurements are as follows: Chest (44), Biceps (14), and Waist (14). (36).
John also has a down-to-earth personality.
Perhaps it’s because he might have easily given up between the cracks.
He has, nevertheless, persisted and maintained his point of view.
Furthermore, John has been a fan of Celtic F.C. since he was a child.
His interests include poker and watching Everton play in the Premier League.
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Net Worth & Salary
As a professional snooker player, John Higgins accounts for a large portion of his net worth.
He has competed in a number of tournaments since making his professional debut at a young age.
He has won more than $9.2 million in tournament prizes alone, according to sources.
He just earned GBP 30,000 for finishing in the top eight at the 2020 Tour Championship.
Because he is one of the best snooker players in the world, he has various brand endorsements.
The most notable example is with Negotiate Now, a corporate director in his home nation.
Every year, he received between £50,000 and £100,000 from this arrangement.
According to Sporting Free, he is the world’s third richest snooker player of all time.
As a result, his net worth is estimated to be approximately $11.2 million.
