Higgins gives Trump warning

John Higgins: Got the better of Judd Trump last year

John Higgins has told Judd Trump he'll have it "tough" if he is go one better than last year at the Betfred.com World Championship.

Trump made it all the way through to the final last year - after beating defending champion Neil Robertson in the opening round - but came off second best against Higgins in the Crucible showpiece.

The 22-year-old has since climbed to number two in the world rankings on the back of winning this season's UK Championship.

But Higgins, who won his first world title at the age of 22, has warned Trump things won't come easy for him as he returns to Sheffield.

The Scot said: "It's going to be tough for him because he's fancied now and he's obviously the favourite for the event.

"If someone had said to him last year when he was going into the event, 'Next year, you're going to be favourite for it', he wouldn't have believed you, but it only goes to show how far he's come.

"Obviously there's lots of people out there who want to see him go back and go one better."

Competition

With an inconsistent run of form, Higgins accepts he's not the favourite to win a fifth world title this year but thinks Trump has plenty of competition.

He added: "I know why I'm not the favourite. But making Judd the favourite? I think you could make the case for a lot of players.

"You could make the case for Neil Robertson, for Mark Selby as world number one, for Ronnie O'Sullivan coming back to form."

Selby is not only coming back from a neck problem, he is also a world number one without a world title, which inevitably raises questions over whether his ranking is credible. Not that Higgins is in any doubt about Selby's class.

"It's hard for Mark," Higgins said. "People are maybe not giving him the credit he deserves, because he's far and away the world number one.

"He's the most consistent, but I think it's until he wins that world title.

"He'll be trying harder than anybody, you know that, because he's such a top-class competitor, but there's lots of players going for their first world title.

Flabbergasted

"You look at Ding Junhui as well. I'd be flabbergasted if he never wins a world title, because he's that good also."

Last season began for Higgins with a suspension, his punishment for non-disclosure and giving the impression he was prepared to break betting rules following the News of the World sting of April 2010.

It ended with glory and tears of joy in Sheffield, but the Scot was heckled during his semi-final against Mark Williams, with one spectator standing up and shouting out, "You're a disgrace to snooker".

Higgins, 36, brushed it off at the time and is confident he would not be affected if there was a similar incident at the World Championship this year.

"It was water off a duck's back," he said. "If I'm heckled again, I'm heckled again. It's one of those things I've just got to live with, so we'll cross that bridge if and when we get to it."