John Higgins hinted that this might be his last World Championship after losing to Mark Allen in the first round of the Tour Championship on Monday night.
The Pistol beat the Wizard 10-7 in a fantastic contest in Manchester as the Northern Irishman made three tons and four half-centuries on his way to victory.
The Scot started excellently, with four half-centuries in the first five frames to take a 4-1 lead, but faltered a bit from there and Allen won in the second session.
Higgins was impressed with Allen’s performance and turned his focus to the Crucible later this month, but suggested it could be his ‘final go’ at the World Championship.
‘I thought Mark played very well tonight,’ Higgins told ITV. ‘I should have been in front today, 4-4. then I thought Mark played better tonight.
‘I missed two or three unforgivable balls at this level. You cannot afford to miss and my long game was really non-existent as well. At this level it’s not good enough against the best players
‘I just need to dust myself down. A couple of weeks before the Worlds, try and get some good practice and go there and give it a final go, maybe.’
Whether Higgins was just disappointed by the defeat or he was perhaps suggesting one more realistic crack at winning the event, it wasn’t certain, but the 48-year-old did appear to be suggesting that the end is near.
Asked about possible retirement in January, Higgins was genuinely unsure whether he was close to hanging up his cue.
‘It’s a tough decision, it’s a tough one really. Who knows?’ Higgins told Metro.co.uk earlier this season. ‘I love the game, I love playing it, I love competing in it.
‘It’s just the off-table side of it, with the practice and different things where I’m just slowly losing that edge to put the practice in and put myself out there.
‘You can’t have one without the other. It’s a tough one. But right here and now I should be looking at the positives and going there and giving my all.’
However, it looked like the Wizard of Wishaw had refocused by working with a sports psychologist for the first time in his career.
That move did not seem like one of a man who is imminently going to retire so we will have to wait and see, with the four-time world champion’s future possibly dependent on how he gets on in Sheffield this year.
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