Name: Stephen Hendry

DOB: January 13th, 1969

Nationality: Scottish

Turned Pro: 1985

Highest Ranking: #1 (1990-8, 2006/7)

Current Ranking: #10

Highest Break: 147×9

Career Highlights: Seven times World Champion, Five times UK Champion, Six times Masters Champion, Four times British Open Champion, Four times Grand Prix Champion, Three times European Open Champion, Three times Welsh Open Champion

 

In short

Arguably the greatest player ever to have played the game, Stephen Hendry has done it all in his long and illustrious career. With more world titles, more ranking event titles and centuries than any other player he holds nearly every record in the book.

At his best Hendry was the finest break builder the game has ever seen. Never one for a prolonged safety exchange, he would typically drill in a long red before using his skills around the black spot and expert use of the middle pockets to score yet another century break.

Not only this but he had one of the strongest temperaments the game has ever seen as he showed by winning the 1991 Masters from 8-2 down against Mike Hallett, or the 1992 World final 18-14 from being 14-8 down. When the pressure is on Hendry could come through more often than not and this relentless attitude arguably just as important to his success as his undoubted talent for the game. It was this combination of talent and temperament that made him so strong during the early part of the 90’s and when at his very best, set his level apart from anything I have seen before or since.

Early Career

When Stephen’s parents Irene and Gordon bought him a snooker table for £137 as a Christmas present back in 1981, little could they have known what a life changing decision this would prove to be. Within a fortnight he had knocked in a fifty break and it wasn’t long before he had scored his first century at the Classic Snooker Centre in Dumfries.

Hendry continued to work hard as a youngster, attracting the interest of Ian Doyle who was to soon become his manager when he comprehensively beat his son Lee in a tournament. Amongst other titles he won the Scottish Amateur Championship twice and having turned pro in July 1985 aged just 16, he won the Scottish Professional Championship for the first time the following year. On the main tour he rapidly moved up the rankings and made a mark on the biggest stage, famously earning a round of applause from his opponent Willie Thorne following a debut defeat at the Crucilble in 1986. It is worth noting that barely four years after he first picked up a cue, Hendry was competing at the Crucible with the best in the world, an incredible achievement for such a short career.

It wasn’t all easy however as in January 1987 Hendry took part in a tour of Scotland, playing a series of matches against the best player in the world back then, Steve Davis. Hendry was hammered 6-0 and was thoroughly outplayed. He did however learn a great deal from this, himself saying that out of that series came a “much tougher” Stephen Hendry and he was soon back on the winning trail.

Breakthrough

His first major victory was to come in the 1987 Winfield Masters in Australia, beating John Campbell, Cliff Thorburn, Alex Higgins and finally Mike Hallett in the final. Soon to follow was his first ranking event victory at the Rothmans Grand Prix where he gained his revenge over Davis in the last 16 before eventually capturing the title with a 10-7 win over Dennis Taylor in the final. He went on that season to add the British Open, World Doubles and a third Scottish Professional title to his collection and ended the season ranked at a career high of fourth in the world.

Dominance

He continued to impress, winning the first of six Masters titles and moving up to third in the rankings by the end of the following year before things really took off in the 1989/1990 season. During this he won no fewer than seven titles, including the UK Championship, his second Masters and most importantly of all his first world title in Sheffield. In beating Jimmy White 18-12 that April he became the youngest ever world champion, a record that still stands today, and became Scotland’s first world champion since Walter Donaldson in 1950.

There was no looking back for Hendry now and in the following season he won an unprecedented five ranking events as well as successfully defending the B&H Masters at Wembley. Indeed the only shock for Hendry is that his world title defence failed at the quarter-final stage where he lost to Englishman Steve James.

In 1991/2 he maintained his relentless form and won a further eight titles, including a fourth straight Masters title having beaten John Parrott 9-4 in the final. Most importantly though he successfully claimed his second world title, recovering from 14-8 down against Jimmy White in the final by taking the next ten frames in arguably the great comeback the Crucible has seen.

The next season was much the same, the titles continued to come as Hendry took his fifth Masters title on the spin and once again beat Jimmy White in the world final. This was a much more straightforward match for Hendry however who immediately set the tone in the opening frame with a perfect century break and never really looked back.

The 1994 World final was another matter however as Hendry clinched his fourth title in the most unlikely circumstances. Following a hotel room slip earlier in the tournament, Hendry fractured his elbow and when not at the table had to wear a sling and was experiencing pain when getting up from his shots. Despite this however he made the final where once again he would face Jimmy White in what was a much closer affair. Eventually the match went into a deciding frame and for a while it looked like White was finally going to win his first title. This was until he surprisingly missed a routine black off the spot which allowed Hendry back to the table who made no mistake, clearing up for frame and the match.

Soon after this match Hendry was to be awarded an MBE and he continued his dominance of the sport, winning both the UK and world titles for a further two years. This brought him level with Steve Davis and Ray Reardon on six world championships, though it was to be a little while before he could surpass their records. He also managed to clam a sixth Masters crown in 1996, following which the organisers allowed him to keep the trophy permanently.

At this stage with the likes of John Higgins, Mark Williams and Ronnie O’Sullivan now approaching the top of their game, there was a real sense of there being a “big four” in snooker and this made it tougher for Hendry to maintain his success. He was defeated in the 1997 World Championship by Ireland’s Ken Doherty and lost his world number 1 ranking the following year when John Higgins managed to win the title.

Seventh heaven

Hendry was not to be denied his place in the record books by bettering Davis and Reardon’s tally of six world titles however, taking victory against Mark Williams in 1999 to take a well deserved championship. In addition it came on the back of a relatively unsuccessful couple of seasons where questions had been asked about Hendry’s desire for the game, culminating in a shock 9-0 defeat to Marcus Campbell at the UK Championship. This proved to be a turning point however and Hendry hit back like the champion he is to take his most difficult world title to date. In fact it is arguable that his path to glory this year was the most difficult any player has had to come through. In the first three rounds he defeated Paul Hunter, James Wattana and Matthew Stevens who have all won ranking event titles before beating future world champions Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Williams in the final stages.

Recent Years

Since then he continued to win titles for several years but he has been unable to dominate like he used to in the early 1990’s. Not helped by losing his original cue to a baggage handling accident in 2003, he hasn’t quite been able to play to the same standard in recent years and has failed to capture a title since the 2005 Malta Cup.

He always managed to remain in the top ten of the rankings however and continued to be occasionally run deep in ranking events, making the final of the UK Championship in 2006, as well as the semi-finals of the World Championship for the 11th time (another record), in May 2008.

2008/9

Having finished the 2007/8 season so well, the following season was something of a struggle for Stephen as he suffered a string of round one defeats to the likes of Ricky Walden, Stephen Lee and Martin Gould. His confidence was visibly low and many of his defeats appeared to follow a similar pattern as he battled hard to stay in touch until the end of the match before his opponents find that little bit of extra quality to pull away and win the match.

Despite a strong run to the semi-finals of the inaugural Bahrain Championship where he was to come unstuck against Matthew Stevens, at one stage he was in real danger of losing his place in the top 16 for the first time since the 1987/8 season.

As the old saying goes though, form is temporary, class is permanent and runs to the quarter-finals in both the China Open and the World Championship ensured that he would maintain his place among the elite for at least another season.

His run at the Crucible in particular was a memorable one as having emerged from a scrappy opening match with good friend Mark Williams, he rolled back the years with a vintage performance to defeat Ding Junhui in the last 16 for the second successive season. Now in his 18th World Championship quarter-final (a record), against Shaun Murphy, although he lost out in a thrilling match, he had the consolation of making his ninth competitive maximum break, his second at the Crucible and his first since 2001.

Whether he can take this form on into 2009/10 remains to be seen and being outside of the top eight for the first time in 21 years it will be tough, but he proved against Ding that the ability is still there, it is just whether he can produce it consistently enough…

Tournament Victories:

Ranking Event wins (36)

Event	Year
World Championship	1990, 1992-6, 1999
UK Championship	1989, 1990, 1994-6
Grand Prix	1987, 1990-1, 1995
British Open	1988, 1991, 1999, 2003
Asian Open	1989, 1990
Dubai Duty Free Classic	1989, 1990, 1993
Regal Welsh Open	1992, 1997, 2003
International Open	1993, 1997
Regal Scottish Open	1999
European Open	1994, 1995, 2001
Thailand Masters	1998
Malta Cup	2005

Non-Ranking Event wins (32)

Event	Year
Scottish Professional Championship	1986-8
Winfield Masters	1987
New Zealand Masters	1988
Wembley Masters	1989-93, 1996
Scottish Masters	1989, 1990, 1995
Pontin’s Professional	1990
Hong Kong Challenge	1991
Indian Challenge	1991
555 Challenge	1991
European Challenge	1991
Premier League	1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2004
Irish Masters	1992, 1997, 1999
Malta Grand Prix	1998, 2001
Red Bull Super League	1998
Champions Cup	1999

Other wins (5)

Event	Year
Scottish Amateur Championship	1984-5
National Under-16 Championship	1983
World Doubles (with Mike Hallett)	1987
World Masters Doubles (with Mike Hallett)	1991

Profile supplied by Matt Huart (http://prosnookerblog.com/)