John Higgins will face Ronnie O’Sullivan at the Masters. (Image: Getty)
has stoked the fires ahead of his first-round match with at the Masters by arguing his fellow snooker icon is steadily on the decline. ‘The Rocket’ is going in as defending champion, having won a record extending eighth title in 2024 .
O’Sullivan has not been the dominant force on the tour this season though, with and Kyren Wilson currently appearing as the world’s two leading players.
Trump has won three titles, including the , while reigning world champion Wilson has taken the Xi’an Grand Prix and Northern Ireland Open titles.
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And Higgins has named the two stars among the five players he believes will represent the biggest threats at Ally Pally. “Kyren and Judd could be the big rivalry, but it could change so quickly,” he told .
“Those two guys will be competing against each other for the next few years, but then you’ve got a lot of the good young Chinese boys. And you’ve got Mark Allen still there and you can never write off , Neil Robertson and , they’re all unbelievable champions.”
Despite the emergence of a new generation, the famous ‘Class of ’92’ consisting of Higgins, O’Sullivan, and are still in the world’s top 16. But the Scot doesn’t believe any of them will be competing at the top end of the game for much longer.
O’Sullivan is the reigning Masters champion. (Image: Getty)
“I think in the next ten years the Class of ’92 will be past it, but I’m sure the other boys will be competing, and new rivalries will be made,” he said. “I think guys like Selby and Robertson and Murphy in the band behind me age wise they get easily overlooked.
“I don’t mean that in a derogatory way. People think the Class of ’92 and then guys like Judd and Kyren. You’ve got three guys there who are among the best to ever pick up a cue and I know because I’ve played them at their best. They’re incredible.”
Higgins also believes that the upcoming Jack Lisowski is “due a win,” and played down his own hopes of a third Masters title. But his comments are bound to have been noted by O’Sullivan, who is building up to another tilt at a record-breaking eighth at the Crucible in May.
O’Sullivan has constantly been vague over his retirement plans, and has vowed to keep playing professionally for as long as he is competing at the top level. Higgins, 49, has also expressed a desire to keep playing into his 50s.
The Masters gets underway this coming Sunday, January 12. This year, Higgins, O’Sullivan and co will be playing for more money, with the prize fund for the winner increasing from £250k to £350k.