John Higgins revealed he’s enlisted the help of a sport psychologist for the first time in his career, after beating Mark Allen 5-2 at the BetVictor German Masters in Berlin.
The Scot suffered a cruel 6-5 defeat at the hands of Allen last month at the Masters. At that point decided he needed to take action on the mental side of his game and to work with a psychologist.
Higgins picked up the most recent of his 31 career ranking titles nearly three years ago at the 2021 Players Championship. He’s suffered a number of gut-wrenching losses in the years which followed. The Scot has appeared in five finals since and ended runner-up in all of them. His defeat to Allen at Alexandra Place was the final straw.
The off table work appeared to be helping four-time Crucible king Higgins’ performance in the arena this afternoon. He crafted breaks of 76, 103 and 69 during a match which he dominated to book a spot in the quarter-finals against Judd Trump, who defeated Thepcaiya Un-Nooh and secured the £150,000 BetVictor Series Bonus in the process.
“I’m trying to have a different mindset. I’m doing a few things off the table to try and get my mind right, which I’ve never done in my career. It is early days but it seems to be helping just now.”
John Higgins
Four-time World Champion
“I’ve got to do it. I can’t rely on myself. I’m not good enough to rely on myself. I maybe need a wee bit of help," added 48-year-old Higgins.
“I’m speaking to a person just to try and have good thoughts. For too long now I’ve had negative thoughts. It is pleasing. I was 3-0 in front there and missed a blue to go 4-0. Mark came back to 3-2 and in other matches I might have thought I’d lose 5-3. There were more positive thoughts and it worked out."
Former German Masters winner Kyren Wilson emerged victorious after a hard fought encounter with 2010 World Champion Neil Robertson, winning 5-3. Next up is a quarter-final clash with Fan Zhengyi, who defeated Tom Ford 5-3.
Defending champion Ali Carter eased to the last eight with a 5-0 demolition of fellow Essex cueman Zak Surety. Carter now plays Sam Craigie, after he scored a thrilling 5-4 win over Xu Si.
World Championship semi-finalist Si Jiahui defeated Chinese compatriot Yuan Sijun 5-3 to book his quarter-final slot. He now faces Welshman Ryan Day, who came through 5-2 over Belgian 20-year-old Julian Leclercq.