Crucible butterflies still flutter for Davis after all these years

A true sporting legend who has not only reached the pinnacle of his profession, and dominated for a decade, but also had the longevity to carry on and become an elder statesman to guide the sport through several generations.

When he cues off on Monday against Mark King in his first-round match at the Betfred.com World Championship, 52-year-old Davis (he will be 53 in August) will be competing for an amazing 30th time at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

He first made his bow in 1978-79 as a fresh-faced kid and crashed out in the first round. Twelve months later he reached the last eight, but nobody could have predicted what lay ahead in a golden Eighties.

Davis would go on to dominate the sport, winning the world title six times and ending up as a losing finalist twice.

Yet for all his trophies, he will always be remembered for his 1985 defeat to Dennis Taylor. A record 18.5m people tuned in – still a record for BBC2 – as the match rolled over beyond midnight, Irishman Taylor clinching an amazing fightback with victory on the final black ball. Seventeen days of tournament play, and the world title came down to one ball.

"There's interest still around that match with Dennis Taylor in 1985." he said. "Coming into this event as a competitior it's not high on my list of priorities, on how much I think about it, but it is still something that's part of snooker folklore and history so I am delighted to be part of it.

"The fact it's 25 years ago has got a bit of a wow factor. There's players playing in this year's event, under 25, their memories of it aren't that great," he laughed. "But the snooker public who have watched sport for the last 30 years, it's part of their sport-watching cv. It's amazing how many people it has touched."

Davis led 8-0, before Taylor reduced the deficit to 9-7 at the end of the first day's play. The match was level at 11-11 going into the final session, but when Davis took a 17-15 lead it seemed the underdog's challenge was over.

But successive frames saw Taylor force the deciding frame; at 68 minutes, three times as long as a normal frame.

With the score at 44-62, Taylor needed to sink the last four balls worth 22 points if he was to snatch an unlikely win. He started by potting a difficult long-range brown, followed by blue and pink.

Both players had chances to pot the black, but when Davis missed trying to over-cut, Taylor pounced and his finger-wagging, cue twirling celebrations were to go down in sporting folklore.

It was the first time in the entire match that Taylor had taken the lead.

"It's remarkable to think you've been involved in something that is so much a part of the UK's sporting memories, it's something to be quite proud of now," said Davis.

"I don't even view it as a failure any more."

Davis openly admits he struggles to motivate himself for some tournaments, but when the Crucible comes calling each Spring he is like a child in the approach to Christmas.

After coming through the qualifiers, Davis – who will still be in the world's top 32 come next season – shrugs of thoughts of hanging up his cue and retiring.

"I have definitely got the buzz at the moment, it's quite nice," he said.

"I must admit as the years have gone on it has become harder and harder to motivate, but it's nice to know that for this particular event there's nothing quite like it.

"The butterflies are still there in place, so I'm pleased about that because I think I need that these days to make sure I give it my best.

"The thoughts of stopping don't really come into the equation that often, on the odd occasion I play in a match in the early stages where a guy is playing well and I think "what am I doing here?" but these are few and far between so I am quite pleased about that.

"Even this season, which has been pretty poor in terms of strike rate, the percentage of winning matches to losing them, on the odd occasion that I have got myself going I have enjoyed the challenge.

"If I get myself in the right frame of mind and psyche myself up I can still compete, but I have to psyche myself up for it.

"Sometimes I don't achieve that state of mind in some of the smaller events. That's my problem, nobody else's."

Taylor, 61, retired from the professional circuit in 2000 and is now part of the BBC's TV commentary team.

While Davis faces fellow Romford player King on Monday, finishing Tuesday, last year he went out at the first round stage to Australian Neil Robertson.

His verdict? "I'm not sure it's about bowing out in style, more like hanging on for grim death really," he said. "I'm going down the walls slowly with my finger nails embedded, screeching down. To me it's nature, you go up the rankings and then you go down the rankings. The challenge is how long it takes."

Highs and lows at the crucible

n Best moment: "My best ever final was beating John Parrott 18-3 and destroying the final because there wasn't even a last session.

"That was my best ever performance, to outplay somebody, I just played really well."

n Worst moment: "My best and worst was the 1985 final against Dennis Taylor, pictured right. To lose it was very hard but it was a good final to play in."

n Funniest moment: "One of the funniest was when Bill Worbanick accidentally farted at the Crucible and then turned to the audience and asked 'who did that?'

"But it's hard to remember all the funny moments because there have been so many of them. There's been a lot. When you look back now you only see the magical moments. There will always be something exciting happening at the Crucible."

Higgins waits for rocket to hit back

John Higgins believes wounded pride will make Ronnie O'Sullivan a greater threat than ever heading into this year's Betfred.com World Championship.

Not only does Higgins proudly wear the badge of reigning Crucible champion, he has also jumped above O'Sullivan to secure the number one ranking for next season.

Higgins and O'Sullivan have three world titles each, and the race to a fourth is on between the pair, with only Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis and Ray Reardon having won more in snooker's modern era.

Although Scotsman Higgins has edged ahead of his English rival, he has no doubt O'Sullivan will arrive in Sheffield with "a point to prove", having surrendered his title tamely when he lost to Mark Allen in the second round last year.

Higgins said: "I think he'll be more dangerous this year because people might not have the same expectation of him going into the championship.

"Last year everyone thought he was going to go on and win it, no problem again.

"It's maybe a bad thing in a way for all of us that he failed to win because he'll definitely have a point to prove."