John Higgins says his relationship with Mark Williams has changed over the years, while he has never really got to know Ronnie O’Sullivan despite competing at the top of snooker together since they were teenagers.
The incredible trio, dubbed the Class of 92 as they all turned professional at the same time 31 years ago, are remarkably all still campaigning among the sport’s elite in 2023.
They first played each other as youngsters in junior tournaments, but now as they all approach 50 they have met on the biggest stages in snooker, winning 14 world titles between them.
Rivalries on the table have perhaps meant that the trio are not exactly best friends, but Higgins remembers a time when he and Williams were close, in their early days on the tour.
The Wizard of Wishaw’s first tournament win as a professional came at the 1994 Australian Open in Melbourne, an event he travelled to with Williams after signing with Ian Doyle’s Cuemasters group, and a trip he has mixed memories of.
‘That was the first tournament we went to, me and Mark Williams after I’d just signed up to the CueMasters stable,’ Higgins told the Talking Snooker podcast.
‘I couldn’t believe the distance, it was 25 hours. We played cards all the way and it was only really the final hour that I realised he was cheating me all the way out there. I said “you’re looking at my hand” and he says “John, I’ve been doing it for 24 hours.”
‘The jet-lag killed you. We were up all night, sleeping in the day. I won the tournament but then me and Mark stayed out there for another 10 days doing exhibitions. After two or three days I was on the phone to Ian Doyle saying, “you’ve got to get us home, I can’t have any more of this.”
‘We were playing afternoon, night, afternoon, night, 10 frames each. It was a crazy time, getting flogged to death out there, potting balls.’
It might have been tiring, but the shared experience developed a friendship between the two young players. However, snooker politics got in the way soon after, with it difficult to have relationships across certain factions led by managers in the game.
Those struggles have evaporated now, though, with the pair on great terms these days.
‘I think we had a good relationship up to that point, we spent a lot of time together,’ Higgins said of Williams. ‘Then it sort of soured a little bit because not that long after that I did leave Ian Doyle’s camp, Mark stayed and became the top name in the camp along with Stephen [Hendry].
‘There was a bit of a split in the game at that time, with different managers and factions.
‘When you’re aiming for the same sort of titles you can’t really be as close as maybe you were when you were younger and just playing the game for fun. It got serious when you were going for the same titles, but now we get on great.
‘Obviously a lot of water has passed under the bridge, our families are close when they see each other, our wives get on well, we’ve got kids now, you realise that it’s a short life so you just get on with it. Aye, we get on great now.’
O’Sullivan is a different matter, though, and despite knowing the Rocket for comfortably over three decades, Higgins isn’t sure he actually knows him at all.
‘I get asked about that and it’s the same answer I give, I don’t really know Ronnie at all,’ said Higgins.
‘When you think all these years we’ve been on the tour, we’ve never really been that close, I could count on one hand the amount of meals we’ve had together.
‘But I’ve got the utmost respect for him as a snooker player, incredible player and I think it goes back to what I said about Mark Williams. Going for the same titles, you cannot be all that friendly with each other. Respect of course, but being friends, nah.
‘We’re different characters as well, the three of us, totally different characters.’
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