World Snooker Championship 2021: ‘They've inspired me to keep playing' – Ronnie O’Sullivan exclusive
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Updated 23/04/2021 at 08:32 GMT
John Higgins and Mark Williams meet for the fifth time at the World Championship in the last 16, an astonishing 22 years after they first collided at the Crucible in the 1999 semi-finals. The duo turned professional alongside world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan as part of the sport's fabled Class of '92. O'Sullivan explains why their ongoing success has inspired him to scrap any plans for retirement.
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Snooker’s enduring Class of ‘92 graduated with honours at the Crucible Theatre over two decades ago, but the timeless triumvirate continue to display a true passion for life-long learning.
For Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Williams, three masters in green baize geometry, every day is a school day.
“If they (Higgins and Williams) see me doing well, they know I’m nothing special,” said O’Sullivan. “We’re all just human beings. They’re both fantastic snooker players, but none of us have got some superpower going on.
We’ve grew up together, we respect each other’s games, we know each other capabilities. I just think we feed off each other and get inspired by each other.
With 13 world titles between them over the past 29 years, and two over the past three years in Sheffield, the holy trinity of cue sports, an Englishman, a Scotsman and a Welshman, continue to thrive and survive at the elite echelons of the sport in quite inimitable style in their 40s. Still enjoying the golden view from the ridge when lesser cueists are over the hill.
They may share the same years as the 45th Crucible tournament they are chasing, but are hardly flagging with all three safely ensconced inside the world's top 12, safer than a Higgins shot to nothing.
World number two O'Sullivan's standing in the rankings is only bettered by Judd Trump, who is eyeing a staggering sixth triumph in the season of social distancing, but others covet the game's crowning glory.
Williams and Higgins will collide at the Crucible over the best-of-25 frames on Friday (LIVE on Eurosport at 2:30pm) and Saturday in the last 16 for the fifth time since they turned professional in 1992.
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All three had lifted their first world titles between 1998 and 2001, but their duels form the rich fabric of green baize folklore as much as the Bayeux Tapestry tells you of Norman conquest minus Mark Davis from Hastings.
Williams enjoyed victories over Higgins in the 1999 (17-10) and 2000 (17-15) semi-finals and the 2018 (18-16) final respectively with Higgins completing a memorable 17-14 win in the 2011 semi-finals on his passage to a fourth world title. Fittingly, they are level on 11 wins each in career ranking duels.
O’Sullivan made off with his first world title courtesy of an 18-14 victory over Higgins in the 2001 final, but has numerous memories of facing both men on the grandest stage, the most recent of which saw him complete a 13-10 success against Williams in the quarter-finals on his sojourn to a sixth world title last August.
“My biggest two rivals have been Higgins and Williams,” O’Sullivan told Eurosport. “We’re very different. Me and Williams have got more of a shot-making style.
“We make the game up as we go along while Higgins is more in the style of Steve Davis. Very robotic, tough to play against and can tie you up in knots.
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“It’s weird because John plays well against me, I play well against Williams, but he plays well against John.
“It is almost like our styles contrast. If I could use Mark Williams’ style against John Higgins, I’d probably get a lot more success against him.
If Mark Williams could use John Higgins’ style against me it would be the same... it’s really funny how the dynamics work out, but all three of us have kept each other going in many ways. Whenever one has been down, they probably get inspired by the other one.
O’Sullivan revealed witnessing Williams end a 15-year wait to lift his third world title in 2018 with his epic win over Higgins, who had restored parity at 15-15 from 14-7 behind, inspired him to an 18-8 win over Kyren Wilson in last year's final.
“I know there have been times where I’ve sat there and thought: ‘They’re doing alright against the odds’," confessed O'Sullivan.
“When Williams won the world title in 2018, I sat back and thought: ‘He can do it so surely I can do it’. I think he’s a few months older than me so I think we all give each a bit of belief. I’m sure John and Mark feel the same way."
Williams celebrated his 46th birthday by claiming the 23rd ranking event of his career at the inaugural WST Pro Series event last month before reaching the final of the Championship League a week later to leave himself mentally attuned for the Crucible.
A 10-4 win over qualifier Sam Craigie in the first round saw him secure another joust with Higgins, who won six straight frames from 7-4 behind in a 10-7 win over Tian Pengfei.
“Williams has been fantastic to watch in the past few tournaments. I thought: ‘you are dusting these young guys up’,” commented O’Sullivan.
"You are trashing them. The way Williams is playing at the moment, he’s a match for anyone because he’s enjoying it and a snooker player enjoying his snooker is a dangerous opponent.
He’s got great temperament, his potting ability is amazing and his break-building has improved a lot over the past two or three years. I’d say he is a much better all-round player than when he first came on the scene.
“We all develop as pros. You start a bit rough round the edges and you develop. Your style improves because you have to adapt and reinvent yourself.
“Higgins has done that recently by changing something. You are always doing that and you hope those changes can make you a better player.
“That is what Mark has done. He can play any game. If you want to play safe: 'yeah, if you want to score points, yeah, I’m cool with it..'
“You know when you to pick and choose your battles and just play in a philosophical way. I’m not sure John could do what Mark is doing because they are different styles of players.
“Mark is playing with a tremendous amount of freedom, but I’m not sure that would work for John because he’s a different type of player. But if John gets in the groove and is enjoying his snooker, you don’t want to play him.”
All being well, all three will celebrate 30 years at the summit next year with O’Sullivan conveying the message that diehards should enjoy them while they can.
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‘One of the most complete performances of his career’ – Higgins beats O’Sullivan
Apart from Trump, O'Sullivan feels the field has not been sharp enough to bury the Class of '92, who share the same moniker as Manchester United's glorious era of David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, with almost 2,500 centuries assembled on the baize .
He is still shocked Higgins lost 10-8 to Yan Bingtao in the Masters final in January. O'Sullivan ran in two centuries and a 97 in a 6-3 defeat to Higgins in the last eight with the Players champion totting up three centuries of his own.
“It’s amazing to still be competing,” said O'Sullivan. “I just think we played in an era in the 1980s when snooker was so popular.
“You had no mobile phones back then so you had to focus and concentrate. You were surrounded by really fantastic players.
“I just don't think you will see that level of player coming through again.
You might see a good crop of players, and in-depth they’re quite good today, but I doubt you will see a John Higgins or Mark Williams type of player again.
“Alright, we’ve got Judd Trump, but he’s the only one, but other than that you look down and there is nobody showing that type of snooker ability or snooker brain.
“There’s just no one. Yeah, there are good players, but if Higgins or Williams play 80 percent of their game, there is still only Judd Trump, Neil Robertson and possibly Mark Selby who can beat them.
“Anybody else won’t get near them. I know Bingtao beat Higgins in the Masters final, but if Higgins had played consistently steady throughout that final I have no doubt he’d have won that 10-6 or 10-5 because he is just a superior player.”
It was perhaps Mark Twain, definitely not Mark 'The Royal' King, who was misquoted as suggesting excellence in billiards being the sign of a misspent youth. For the enduring Class of '92, and those watching under face masks at the Crucible, it has been time well misspent.
Desmond Kane
Snooker's enduring Class of '92
| Ronnie O'Sullivan (Eng) | John Higgins (Sco) | Mark Williams (Wal) |
| Born: 5 December 1975 | Born: 18 May 1975 | Born: 21 March 1975 |
| World titles (6): 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2020 | World titles (4): 1998, 2007, 2009, 2011 | World titles (3): 2000, 2003, 2018 |
| UK (7): 1993, 1997, 2001, 2007, 2014, 2017, 2018 | UK (3): 1998, 2000, 2010 | UK (2): 1999, 2002 |
| Masters (7): 1995, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2014, 2016, 2017 | Masters (2): 1999, 2006 | Masters (2): 1998, 2004 |
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