John Higgins' massive net assets and Sting surgery, which shook the sports world

John Higgins took another step towards a fifth world championship title after taking the quarter-finals of this year's World Snooker Championship.

The 49-year-old meets on Tuesday in a tempting match-up against the Welsh Mark Williams, after he had gone to Xiao Guodong in the second round with a 13: 12 victory of 13: 12. Higgins would like to increase the titles that he won in 1998, 2007, 2009 and 2011 at The Crucible, but looks violent in Williams, whom he lost seven years ago in the World Championship final.

After Higgins became professional in 1992, he is one of the most successful players ever. His 33 ranking lists occupy him in the list of winners of all time that are only Ronnie O'Sullivan and Stephen Hendry.

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In addition to his world championship titles, he also won three UK championships and two Masters titles, with his nine triple crown -win with Mark Selby and only behind O'Sullivan, Hendry and Steve Davis. As a former number one in the world, Higgins, he also spent 29 years of his career in the top -16 players worldwide and only brought off in September last year.

Despite his success at the table, it is fair to say that the Scottish star did not attract the same celebrity status as O'Sullivan and Hendry, with a large part of his personal life out of the spotlight.

However, this does not mean that he took an uneventful life away from the table after being exposed to many ups and downs over the course of his time in the professional snooker. You need to know the following.

Massive assets

As one of the most successful snookers of all time, it is not surprising that Higgins is also one of the wealthiest.

In the course of his 33 -year career, according to Cuetracker, he used a prize money of 10.5 million pounds of sterling.

Almost 600,000 GBP came from this amount this season, which made him the second most individual campaign of his career after 2016/17 when he started a little more than 650,000 GBP.

According to reports, Higgins have an estimated net assets of around around 8.8 million poundsMade him the eighthest player ever.

Prohibition of snooker

After Higgins won the World Cup in 2009, he was banished by Snooker the following year to bring shock waves through sport.

The Snooker -, who was the number one in the world at the time – was at the center of a spiked operation that was carried out by the news of the world in Ukraine, which showed the tabloid time to him and his manager at the time, who agreed to lose certain frames in future games in future games.

This was followed by an investigation, and Higgins was released by match fixing allegations, with an independent tribunal received by his former business partner Pat Mooney, who received a lifelong ban despite the alternative of match fixing places for a technical indictment.

However, the Scots did not escape the punishment as it was found to reveal an invitation to reveal the competitions of sport and to give the impression that he agreed.

As a result, he was hit with a six -month suspension of professional snookers and a fine of £ 75,000 and additional costs of 10,000 GBP.

After Higgins had received the ban, he said: “I greet today's judgment through sports resolutions and was approved by the WPBSA after its extensive examination of the allegations against me by a tabloid.

“I am pleased that after a thorough and fair investigation, sports resolutions and WPBSA have come to the conclusion that I was not guilty of dishonesty and did not intend to fix a match and no intention to do something corrupt.”

He swore to return to Snooker, a “stronger person”, added: “I accept the decision to suspend myself for six months and to impose a fine of £ 75,000. Those who lead WPBSA have made it clear that the sport has to be above and those of the US games that are involved in Snookers than clean must be.

“Those who know me will appreciate that I have tried to encourage and promote snookers. I tried to be an ambassador for sport.”

Higgins described the ordeal as “traumatic” and said that it was “due to the knowledge that I never have and would never have to fix a snooker match”. He added: “I was preserved from the love and support of my wife, my family and my friends.”

However, the Snooker star soon resigned when he returned from his ban and won the World Cup for the fourth time in 2011.

Childhood sweetheart woman

Higgins have been married to his wife Denise since 2010 and met as a teenager at school.

They have welcomed three children since then – the sons Pierce and Oliver and daughter Claudia – and they sometimes follow competitions, especially at large championships.

While Denise is the spotlight, she was a source of unshakable support for her husband throughout his career and was present as a professional for some of his greatest moments.

However, she missed when he won his 32nd ranking title at The World Open in March, since a logistical mistake led to it flown to Hong Kong too late to observe him in action in the final.

“It's just a shame, my Missus comes to Hong Kong and she will fly tomorrow while I will play the final,” he said to the metro at the time.

“We didn't work properly, she is going to a flight to Hong Kong today. Hopefully I have the chance to win the title.”

Devastating family tragedy

Higgins suffered heartache in February 2011 when his father John SR died after a six -year fight against cancer.

He had competed in the German champion in Berlin when he was informed that his father's condition deteriorated and prompted him to retire immediately from the tournament and restarted to Glasgow.

Tragically, however, his father's death was told when he prepared to go on the flight next to his brother Joe.

John SR was announced that on the same day he was cleared by his son of Match-Fixing allegations, he had cancer cancer in terminal.

After Higgins won the British championship when he returned to sport, he dedicated his victory to his late father and said: “This is my best hour. This is for my father.”

The Scottish star looked at family health before this year's World Cup, retired from the media day and skipped the annual pre-tournament festivals such as the Champions Dinner and the ceremony for green carpets after his father-in-law had suffered a heart attack for days before the opening round.

After supporting his wife Denise, Higgins returned to Sheffield to win a 10: 7 victory over Joe O'Connor in the opening round.

After this victory, he stayed in tears when he spoke to the BBC and had to comfortably from moderator Seema Jaswal.

“Obviously my father -in -law wasn't great,” he said. “I ate my boy in dinner last night and thought 25 years ago to sit here with my father. I was drained today.

“I had a few hours sleeping, I came out tonight and definitely felt much better played. I am still so proud that I still play at a good level at this age.”