Scottish snooker player John Higgins made a brutally honest admission that his first-round Masters exit to Neil Robertson was tough to stomach.
The Wizard of Wishaw surged to a commanding 5-1 lead against the talented Australian star Robertson at Alexandra Palace earlier this month.
Only to have his fate change as he lost the next five consecutive frames, painfully bowing out of the tournament at the very first hurdle.
This defeat stung even more due to the last-minute circumstances surrounding it.
Robertson had only stepped in at the eleventh hour after Ronnie O’Sullivan made the shocking decision to withdraw.
O’Sullivan’s exit came after an unfortunate incident where he broke his cue during a pre-Masters event.
In a moment of frustration during a 3-2 Championship League defeat to Robert Milkins, tensions boiled over, resulting in O’Sullivan tossing his broken cue into a bin.
This lead him to pull out of his final group match.
Though O’Sullivan assured his fans of a return to snooker after recovering from fatigue, the strain of the sport is something Higgins understands all too well.
After his second-round exit from the UK Championship following a gripping battle with the world No. 1 Judd Trump, the loss weighed heavily on the veteran’s heart.
Despite triumphing in the first round of the German Masters with a 5-3 victory over world No. 53 Mark Davis, he expressed the toll that snooker can inflict on one’s spirit.
“This is a sport that has given me so much over the years, but it begins to take your soul bit by bit,” Higgins told WST.
“This has been a good sport for me, but as you fall down the rankings, it can begin to take that bit of goodness.
“It is a brutal sport sometimes. That was a good win. Mark has always been really tough and given me some challenging battles.
“It is always a good game when I play him, and that was another one.”
Looking ahead, Higgins is set to take on Jak Jones on January 29 in the second round of the tournament, which he last triumphed in back in 1997.
Meanwhile, Robertson shared his joy at being honoured with the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), the Australian equivalent of an MBE, after his performance at the Masters.
“Many people know who I am in Australia,” he said.
“But snooker is such a tough sport to break through with there because we are so good at so many sports.
“Most of them are outdoor sports; it is tough to compete with those, but this is massive recognition for what I’ve done, and hopefully, it will encourage me to do greater things.”
Higgins has won 31 ranking titles, placing him third on the all-time list.
His achievements include four World Championships, three UK Championships, and two Masters titles.
Higgins has also made over 1,000 century breaks, including 13 maximum breaks.
