john higgins

 

John Higgins, MBE (born 18 May 1975) is a Scottish professional snooker player. Since turning professional in 1992, he has won 30 ranking titles, including four World Championships and three UK Championships, as well as two Masters titles, making him one of the most successful players in the history of the sport.
In terms of world titles in the modern era, Higgins is fifth behind Stephen Hendry (7), Steve Davis (6), Ray Reardon (6) and Ronnie O'Sullivan (5). His 30 career ranking titles puts him in third place behind Hendry (36) and O'Sullivan (36). Known as a prolific break-builder, he has compiled more than 750 century breaks in professional tournament play, placing him third behind O'Sullivan and Hendry. He has also compiled 9 competitive maximum breaks, placing him third behind O'Sullivan (15) and Hendry (11). For 16 consecutive full seasons from 1996/1997 to 2011/2012, Higgins never fell below 6th in the world rankings, and was world number 1 on four occasions

in 2010, the News of the World tabloid newspaper carried out a sting operation in a hotel room in Ukraine, which claimed to show Higgins and his then-manager arranging to lose specific frames in future matches for money. Although an investigation cleared Higgins of match-fixing allegations, it found that he had brought the sport into disrepute by failing to report, and giving the impression of agreeing with, an invitation to breach the sport's betting rules. The WPBSA banned Higgins from professional competition for six months and fined him £75,000. He returned to the tour midway through the 2010/2011 season.

 After his return to snooker, Higgins added a third UK Championship title and claimed his fourth world title in 2011. He then experienced a slump in form, and between 2012 and 2014 only won the 2012 Shanghai Masters. He has spoken frequently in this period about his struggles with confidence and consistency. However, in 2015, Higgins returned to winning ways, capturing three ranking titles.