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Who do you rate as the greater player?

Steve Davis
21
81%
John Higgins
5
19%
 
Total votes : 26

Who do you rate as the greater player?

Postby TheRocket

Steve Davis: 6 Worlds, 6 UK's, 3 Masters, 28 rankers
John Higgins: 4 Worlds, 3 UK's, 2 Masters, 31 rankers, tougher era

Who do you rate as the greater player? Seems to be a lot of different opinions on this.

Re: Who do you rate as the greater player?

Postby orky

It's an almost impossible question to answer because of the eras they played in. Both had advantages and disadvantages due to the era they played in. Davis was up against inferior opposition however his peak standard was lower than Higgins IMO mainly because when Davis turned pro the game was barely professional, Davis himself admitted in the early eighties during a professional match he has learning to play some (now basic) positional shots. Higgins would have had a massive advantage over Davis in the sense that television exposure in the eighties when he (Higgins) was growing up allowed him to study all the shots etc something which Davis didn't have exposure to. No surprise whatsoever that when you look through the snooker timeline standards rose from the early 90s and were probably highest in the late 90s early 00s. Davis was up against ex policeman ex minors etc who carved out a second career turning pros later on in life, little wonder the standard was lower back then. All things considered though, I still place Davis 3rd on the all time greats list just ahead of John Higgins.

Re: Who do you rate as the greater player?

Postby Johnny Bravo

TheRocket wrote:Steve Davis: 6 Worlds, 6 UK's, 3 Masters, 28 rankers
John Higgins: 4 Worlds, 3 UK's, 2 Masters, 31 rankers, tougher era

Who do you rate as the greater player? Seems to be a lot of different opinions on this.

Davis is greater, cause he achieved more in his career.

But Higgins is better and would clearly beat Davis if both are at their absolute best.

Re: Who do you rate as the greater player?

Postby Dragonfly

Johnny Bravo wrote:
TheRocket wrote:Steve Davis: 6 Worlds, 6 UK's, 3 Masters, 28 rankers
John Higgins: 4 Worlds, 3 UK's, 2 Masters, 31 rankers, tougher era

Who do you rate as the greater player? Seems to be a lot of different opinions on this.

Davis is greater, cause he achieved more in his career.

But Higgins is better and would clearly beat Davis if both are at their absolute best.


Very well put. Higgins is the better player, in the sense that both at their absolute peak then Higgins would win. But standards are higher now, techniques are better, scoring is higher and so on.
But Davis is one of the reasons that standards are so high now. For me Davis is the first of the modern players. He brought real professionalism to the sport. He set the bar so high, upcoming future players such as Hendry knew what they had to aspire to.
You can only ever be the best of your time, and Davis was by a mile.

Re: Who do you rate as the greater player?

Postby mick745

Davis is one of the three greatest players ever in my opinion, along with O'Sullivan and Hendry, whichever order people wish to put them in.

Higgins is for me in 'tier 2' with Williams and Selby and Reardon.

Davis i still think is the best match player ever, although i appreciate there is a case for it being Selby or Higgins.

Re: Who do you rate as the greater player?

Postby Johnny Bravo

Dragonfly wrote:
Johnny Bravo wrote:
TheRocket wrote:Steve Davis: 6 Worlds, 6 UK's, 3 Masters, 28 rankers
John Higgins: 4 Worlds, 3 UK's, 2 Masters, 31 rankers, tougher era

Who do you rate as the greater player? Seems to be a lot of different opinions on this.

Davis is greater, cause he achieved more in his career.

But Higgins is better and would clearly beat Davis if both are at their absolute best.


Very well put. Higgins is the better player, in the sense that both at their absolute peak then Higgins would win. But standards are higher now, techniques are better, scoring is higher and so on.
But Davis is one of the reasons that standards are so high now. For me Davis is the first of the modern players. He brought real professionalism to the sport. He set the bar so high, upcoming future players such as Hendry knew what they had to aspire to.
You can only ever be the best of your time, and Davis was by a mile.

:hatoff: :spot on:

Re: Who do you rate as the greater player?

Postby HappyCamper

given the fact a well passed it davis actually beat a then defending world champion higgins at the crucible, i think the people saying that "peak" higgins beating "peak" davis as a forgone conclusion are talking nonsense.

Re: Who do you rate as the greater player?

Postby Johnny Bravo

HappyCamper wrote:given the fact a well passed it davis actually beat a then defending world champion higgins at the crucible, i think the people saying that "peak" higgins beating "peak" davis as a forgone conclusion are talking nonsense.

Higgins was shattered back then due to the match fixing scandal. Plus, that is just 1 match, it's not that relevant.

Re: Who do you rate as the greater player?

Postby SnookerFan

Johnny Bravo wrote:
HappyCamper wrote:given the fact a well passed it davis actually beat a then defending world champion higgins at the crucible, i think the people saying that "peak" higgins beating "peak" davis as a forgone conclusion are talking nonsense.

Higgins was shattered back then due to the match fixing scandal. Plus, that is just 1 match, it's not that relevant.


He lost the match before the match fixing scandals.

<doh>

Are you coming up with these ill-informed opinions deliberately?

Re: Who do you rate as the greater player?

Postby TheRocket

mick745 wrote:Davis is one of the three greatest players ever in my opinion, along with O'Sullivan and Hendry, whichever order people wish to put them in.

Higgins is for me in 'tier 2' with Williams and Selby and Reardon.

Davis i still think is the best match player ever, although i appreciate there is a case for it being Selby or Higgins.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrLpaWEu-Zs

Looks like Higgins just confirmed what you said. He is asked about legacy of the Class of 92.

Higgins puts himself into the same tier as Williams but both are below the Hendry,O'Sullivan and Davis tier. So he definitely puts Davis above himself.

Re: Who do you rate as the greater player?

Postby Andre147

Davis, easily. I think sometimes people forget just how good he was, and that's coming from someone who is born in the early 90s.

Ronnie, Hendry and Davis are the 3 greatest players of all time in my view, Higgins probably comes 4th but a tier bellow those 3 absolute greats.

Re: Who do you rate as the greater player?

Postby Johnny Bravo

Andre147 wrote:Davis, easily. I think sometimes people forget just how good he was, and that's coming from someone who is born in the early 90s.

Ronnie, Hendry and Davis are the 3 greatest players of all time in my view, Higgins probably comes 4th but a tier bellow those 3 absolute greats.

Davis is clearly greater, but both at their best, Higgins is clearly the better player.


   

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