John Higgins (snooker player) title, which prompted Steve Davis to comment "I think John Higgins is the best snooker player I've ever seen in my life". Despite the victory, Higgins lost the world number one ranking to Mark Williams. Higgins had a poor 2011/2012 season, reaching only two quarter finals of major ranking events. His season-best performance was reaching the semi-finals of the Masters, where he lost 4–6 to Shaun Murphy. Before the start of his World Championship title defence, he admitted that his performance levels had not been good enough and that he had not been trying hard enough, managing just one or
2012 World Snooker Championship the title in 1985, O'Sullivan became the oldest world champion since 45-year-old Ray Reardon in 1978. John Higgins, the defending champion, lost 4–13 to Stephen Hendry in the second round. On the opening day of the televised stage Hendry made the 88th official maximum break, his third at the Crucible and the 11th of his career. He announced his retirement from professional snooker following his defeat by Stephen Maguire in the quarter-finals. The tournament was sponsored by online casino Betfred.com. This is to date, the last World Championship to feature a maximum break. The prize fund for the championship was