Stephen Hendry’s verdict on snooker stars as he makes brutal admission | Other | Sport
Stephen Hendry has warned today’s snooker stars they may need to become ‘greedy and horrible’ if they aspire to achieve his level of supremacy. Following Steve Davis’s dominance throughout the 1980s, Hendry reigned supreme during the 1990s, capturing all seven of his World Championships during that golden decade.
Ronnie O’Sullivan has since equalled his tally of seven Crucible triumphs, though spread across a considerably longer timeframe between 2001 and 2022. Hendry, who now works as a commentator and analyst for the BBC and World Snooker Tour (WST), would welcome seeing one player establish the kind of control he and Davis once wielded. Such dominance hasn’t materialised for quite some time, with this campaign proving remarkably competitive, featuring multiple different tournament victors.
World number one Judd Trump, for example, hasn’t claimed silverware since capturing last year’s UK Championship. Speaking to Radio Snooker, Hendry said: “I prefer to have a dominant in any sport.
“I love seeing a dominant force, someone who’s like winning four, five, six tournaments a year. I loved it in golf for [Tiger] Woods, [Michael] Schumacher in Formula One, Davis, myself.
“The way the game’s going, so many people are capable of winning and it’s like very hard to dominate now. People like me are greedy and horrible and just want to win everything. It’s interesting to see who the next person is to sort of take snooker by the scruff of the neck.”
Trump has been drawn to face Stephen Maguire when he begins defending his UK crown in York on Saturday. The Ace in the Pack faces a stern examination against the 2004 UK champion during the opening afternoon session at the York Barbican.
World champion Zhao Xintong is set to face Long Zehuang on Monday, while eight-time UK champion O’Sullivan will take on Zhou Yuelong on Tuesday. Hendry has tipped Zhao as the one to watch out for. After a sluggish start to the season, the Chinese sensation clinched his first tournament of the year at the Riyadh Season Championship in Saudi Arabia earlier this month.
When asked if Zhao could be the next big thing in snooker, Hendry responded: “It depends on a lot of things. You’ve got to completely dedicate your life to being the best, and winning and winning and winning. And it depends if he’s that kind of person; not everyone can do it.
“It’s quite tough actually, you’ve got to make a lot of sacrifices, whether he can do that or not remains to be seen, but he’s going to win a lot of titles.
“I think this season he’ll probably win, I would think, another couple of times, because he’s got that title now as world champion. I think he’ll move on from here.”
