the greatest of all time ?
A complex mathematical study, analysing all matches played since 1968, has named John Higgins as the highest performing snooker player of the modern era.
Higgins came out on top ahead of Ronnie O’Sullivan, with Mark Williams third and Stephen Hendry fourth.
It’s not Rocket science: this is the equation which ranked John Higgins above Ronnie O’Sullivan
The study, led by Joseph D O’Brien of the University of Limerick and published in the Journal of Complex Networks, examined nearly 48,000 results between 1968 and 2020. An intricate algorithm weights results based on the quality of the opponent, and also takes into account head-to-head records between the leading players.
And Higgins came out on top, despite trailing other all-time greats in terms of major titles. He has four World Championship crowns, compared to Hendry’s seven and O’Sullivan’s six, while Higgins has won 31 ranking titles, compared to 37 for O’Sullivan and 36 for Hendry.
Acknowledging the study, Higgins said: “I’m truly flattered, but I have to admit I have not won enough of the big titles consistently to be regarded as the greatest of all time. If I had to give the accolade to anyone it would have to be my rival for so many years…Ronnie!”
Table 1The top 20 players in Snooker’s history.
Rank Player PageRank score In strength Nationality Start End
1 John Higgins 0.0204 899 Scotland 1992 —
2 Ronnie O’Sullivan 0.0201 843 England 1992 —
3 Mark Williams 0.0169 768 Wales 1992 —
4 Stephen Hendry 0.0164 818 Scotland 1985 2011
5 Mark Selby 0.0149 643 England 1999 —
6 Judd Trump 0.0136 579 England 2005 —
7 Neil Robertson 0.0134 581 Australia 2000 —
8 Steve Davis 0.0129 761 England 1978 2014
9 Shaun Murphy 0.0126 552 England 1998 —
10 Jimmy White 0.0116 650 England 1980 —
11 Stephen Maguire 0.0113 475 Scotland 1997 —
12 Ali Carter 0.0111 487 England 1996 —
13 Peter Ebdon 0.0110 520 England 1991 —
14 Ken Doherty 0.0110 523 Ireland 1990 —
15 Barry Hawkins 0.0105 475 England 2000 —
16 Marco Fu 0.0104 427 Hong Kong 1997 —
17 Ding Junhui 0.0103 436 China 2003 —
18 Stuart Bingham 0.0101 477 England 1996 —
19 Mark Allen 0.0100 444 Northern Ireland 2002 —
20 Ryan Day 0.0098 458 Wales 1998 —
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