Stephen Hendry blasts two snooker stars with one ‘shocking’ and other a ‘hard watch’ | Other | Sport

Stephen Hendry has taken aim at two snooker players in his typically brutal assessment of their Masters performances. Kyren Wilson clinched the Paul Hunter Trophy, beating John Higgins in last weekend’s final at Alexandra Palace. It saw the former world champion wrap up his first Masters title and scoop the £350,000 jackpot.

Hendry, who was covering the action as a pundit, singled out Mark Williams and Mark Allen for criticism in his post-tournament review. The two players faced each other in the opening round, with Allen securing a 6-2 victory. Williams bore the brunt of Hendry’s disapproval, with the legendary Scot pulling no punches as he reflected on the Welshman’s early exit.

Speaking on the Snooker Club podcast, Hendry made his feelings crystal clear as he said: “He was shocking. Williams was shocking.”

Allen didn’t escape the wrath of Hendry either, with the 57-year-old questioning his approach in his quarter-final defeat at the hands of Judd Trump.

“Later in the tournament, the first four, five frames against Judd, it was kind of a hard watch,” said the seven-time world champion.

“If Mark ever sees this he’ll probably say I’m talking nonsense, but every safety shot he plays seems to be a negative safety. It never seems to be a safety play that will open up the frame or create opportunities.

“Everything is keeping it tight or risk-free, rather than finding a way to force a mistake to get in.

“When you watch Ronnie [O’Sullivan] play safe, he virtually never plays a containing safety shot, his safety will always be a way of getting the frame going, trying to force a mistake and open things up, it’s an anti-containing safety shot.”

It wasn’t all doom and gloom, though, with the outspoken pundit reserving some praise for Wilson following his maiden Masters triumph.

“Powerful snooker, very powerful snooker,” said Hendry. “It’s all about the balls hitting the leather, it’s really powerful snooker, aggressive snooker as well.

“His break-building plays quite differently from a lot of the top players. He wants to get the pack open as soon as possible whereas a lot of the players now rely on their cue ball control.

“Pick off the reds and go into the pack when it’s absolutely necessary. I love the way Kyren does it, his first opportunity the reds are everywhere and it gives him great chances to score.”