TWENTY years on from being crowned world champion, most sportspeople are deep into retirement, content to reflect on past glories.

Not John Higgins though. Two decades on from winning his maiden world championships crown, the 42-year-old from Wishaw goes into this year’s Betfred World Championship, which begins today at Sheffield’s famous Crucible Theatre, as one of the favourites to walk away with the title in two weeks time.

Much has happened in the snooker world since a 23-year-old Higgins defeated defending champion Ken Doherty 18-12 in the 1998 World Championship final but the memories have not, he says, faded in the slightest.

“It is crazy to think that was 20 years ago,” he said.

“It’s flown by, it really has. When I think back to winning it in 1998, it still feels like yesterday. I can still picture my mum coming down the stairs and my dad there, it’s incredible. And now, I’ve got my teenage son and another boy and a daughter - it’s pretty crazy to think of everything that’s happened since then.”

Higgins has won a further three world titles, as well as 30 ranking titles, in the intervening years but what is most remarkable about the ‘Wizard from Wishaw’ is he is as dangerous a force now as he was then. Currently ranked fifth in the world, the Scot is one of the bookies favourites to win this year’s world title and earlier in the week, five-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan described the Scot as the circuit’s “most complete player” and that he is “virtually unplayable” when he’s on form.

For Higgins, there is something unique about this fortnight and he admits that when he walks into the Crucible for his first round match against Thailand’s Thepchaiya Un-Nooh on Wednesday morning, he will instantly know that he is in the greatest snooker venue in the world.

“I still get that feeling when I walk into the Crucible - every year, it’s still a special feeling,” he said.

It’s such a great venue to play in and it’s also a great venue to watch snooker in. I know people say that it’s maybe a bit small nowadays because you could get more fans in if it was elsewhere but it’s so intimate and there’s really no other venue like it to play snooker.

“My form is okay - I’ve won a couple of tournaments this season but the last couple of tournaments, I’ve not played great and have gone out pretty early. But to be honest, that doesn’t make too much of a difference at the World Championships - it’s about how you start in Sheffield and if you can get off to a good start and give yourself a bit of confidence, this tournament takes care of itself.

“I think that’s where my experience helps me - when you get to the stage of your career that I’m at, you don’t know how many more times you’re going to get to play at the Crucible so it’s just about trying to enjoy it as much as possible whereas in the middle of my career, there was maybe more chance of doubts creeping in.

“But I think the secret is to just relax, enjoy it and give it your absolute all and that’s when I normally play my best stuff.”

Higgins’ first round opponent may only be a mere decade his junior but the Scot knows he will most likely face opponents who were still in nappies while he was accumulating global titles. His compatriot Anthony McGill’s first-ever taste of professional snooker was watching Higgins’ 1998 world title win and the Wishaw man admits that his longevity has surprised even himself. Yet he remains entirely unfazed about being one of the elder statesmen of the tour.

“It’s a bit surreal really to think I’m playing against guys who grew up watching me on telly,” he laughed.

“Anthony has told me that story before about watching the 1998 final and it is funny because I still think of myself as a young boy but then I hear those stories and think oh, maybe I’m not that young. I still feel young and I still enjoy it though.

“But it’s good to hear guys like Ants saying things like that and to think that he looked up to the likes of myself when he was growing up. When I play with him now, I’ll try to give him any little bits of encouragement that he needs or I’d always give him any advice he asked for.”

While talent never leaves you, more often than not the drive and determination does. Higgins admits that he is not quite as laser-focused on his sport as he once was but thankfully for a player who is considered one of the all-time greats of the game, having a few more distractions in his life seems to have had almost no negative impact on his performance.

“When I’m playing a match, I still have the same drive and motivation as I always had,” he reveals.

“But I do know that I’ve probably not put the right amount of work in on the practice table that I did maybe 10 or 15 years ago. I think that’s natural though and it’s down to getting older, I’ve done it for all these years and you have a family so it just takes your eye off the ball a little bit.

“It’s not a bad thing - it’s just something that happens. It takes a certain type of person, a very single-minded person for those things not to affect you and I have been pretty single-minded throughout a lot of my career but then when I had a family, that became the most important thing for me and the snooker comes second. A few sportsmen would still have it the other way around but that’s just not me.

“The good thing is that my level hasn’t really gone down as a result of all of those changes and that’s great to think that I’m still capable of having a good run and that I’m maybe still capable of doing it at the Crucible.

“If 20 years ago when I first won it somebody had said to me that two decades on, I’d still be in with a chance of winning the world title, I’d have thought no way, I’ll probably be outside the top 16 or the top 32 by now and would be near the end of my career. But I’m still in the mix and I’m pretty proud of that fact.”

And with Higgins still in contention to win every tournament he enters, he is not entertaining any thoughts of retirement just yet.

“I’ve been lucky in that I’ve won tournaments in pretty much every year I’ve been a professional,” he said.

“If it got to the point where I went five or six years without winning anything, I would have to look at it because apart from anything else, I wouldn’t be enjoying it. But until that day comes, I’ve got to keep playing and giving it my all because if every year, I can still keep walking away with tournament wins, I retain the belief that I can still do it and I can still compete with the best players.

“You don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow - I’m not one of those guys who looks into the future so I’ll just take every year as it comes and see where that takes me.”