Scots snooker star John Higgins believes the clock is ticking for the Class of 92.
The Wizard of Wishaw, who takes on Ronnie O’Sullivan at the Masters on January 12, believes a new generation of stars are ready to shake-up the sport’s order – with age beginning to catch up on his generation, dubbed the Class of 92, which includes O’Sullivan and Mark Williams. All three players are still inside the world’s top 16 – but now face tough opposition from stars including No.1 seed Judd Trump, world champion Kyren Wilson and a new generation of young Chinese players.
Higgins told SportsBoom: “Kyren and Judd could be the big rivalry, but it could change so quickly. 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. You’ve got Mark Allen still there and you can never write off Mark Selby, Neil Robertson and Shaun Murphy, they’re all unbelievable champions.
“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. 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. For them to still be winning, competing and winning big titles they’re unbelievable players. Then you’ve got the next brigade of players of Judd, Kyren and Jack Lisowski’s due a win.”
Four-time world champion Higgins meanwhile believes the standard of the sport is the highest it has ever been, and is a huge fan of Lisowski – despite the 33-year-old still searching for his big breakthrough. He continued: “Jack should have been born 30 years ago and he’d be sat on ten ranking titles by now.”
“I was speaking to Jack and the amount of breaks people are making now, that was unheard of even when I was at the top of the game. Back then there were only a handful on players, five or six, who were capable of doing that. Now it’s 30 or 40 people. It’s tough being a professional snooker player now.
“It will happen for guys like Jack. He’s just got to keep believing because he’s got the game and got the talent. The door will open for someone like that and when it does happen the floodgates will start.”