JOHN HIGGINS admits he is struggling for motivation to play professional snooker, saying: ‘It’s tough when you’ve worked in a dark room for 40-odd years.’
On the table, the Scotsman opened up his Wuhan Open campaign with a 5-1 round-one thrashing of Welshman Dylan Emery , hitting breaks of 79, 50, 54 and 80.
Off the table, the four-time snooker world champion has lost his mojo following a wonderful 50th birthday holiday to Dallas to see the grassy knoll from where US President John F. Kennedy was shot.
The Wizard of Wishaw reckons he should have skipped this ranking event in China and will take at least a month off when he gets home to the UK.
Higgins – who plays China’s Yuan Sijun in round two – said: “I’m struggling. Struggling with motivation.
“It’s after the big high that I had for my birthday, going to Dallas and different things. I’m really struggling for motivation. I really am.
“I’ll play this event and then take a month off and then see where I am at. I don’t know if I should have come to this event.
“I’m struggling with my technique. That’s just all down to me not putting hours in.
“My technique is really all over the place. I’m just one of the guys that I need to be on it — or I need to feel as if I’m on it.
“Maybe play at least a couple of hours a day. But I’m struggling to put half an hour in. And at this level you cannot mix it with the best players.
“Who knows what to do? Because there’s not many players that have got to this stage of their career and are still competing.
“Still going over and over and over the same things. It’s tough.
“I’ve always said there are a lot worse things happening in the world. There’s a lot of other jobs that people are doing now that they’d bite the hand off you.
“So, I’m always conscious of that. But just now it’s just tough.
“I’m hoping it will change. As you get older, it’s putting the effort on the practice table. You’ve been in a dark room for 40-odd years. It’s tough.
“Hopefully I’ll come back refreshed and re-energised and with a better mindset. But right now, everything’s just quite, quite down.”
Thailand’s Thepchaiya Un-Nooh hit a 147 to close out his 5-1 win over China’s Pang Junxu on day two of the competition.
It is the sixth of his career and the tournament’s second maximum in successive days after Xiao Guodong’s perfect frame on Sunday.
Word No.2 Kyren Wilson was beaten 5-2 by Irish world’s No.47 Aaron Hill while Halifax’s Stan Moody, 18, beat Chinese potting godfather Ding Junhui 5-3.
