Stephen Hendry
STEPHEN HENDRY (1969)
Scottish professional snooker player. Hendry became the youngest professional snooker player, in 1985, to the 16 years and, in 1990, in the youngest Snooker World Champion, at the age of 21 years. He has won the World Championship seven times, a record in the modern era and was number one in the world for eight consecutive years (1990-1998) and again in 2006/2007. Hendry has the distinction of having 36 títulos de ranking (behind O’Sullivan with 37) and it's fourth on the hundreds list, behind Ronnie O'Sullivan John Higgins and Judd Trump, with 775 hundreds in competition. Has made 11 maximum breaks, being only surpassed by O’Sullivan with 15 and Higgins with 12. In may 2.012 retired from sport to focus on his business interests, even though he's still a BBC snooker commentator. Has come back in 2021, enjoy!!!
Honours: seven times World Champion, six-time Masters Champion, five times UK Champion, four-time British Open Champion, three times European Open Champion, three-time Welsh Open Champion.
Hendry started playing snooker in 1981, to the 12 year old, when his father, Gordon, bought her a kid-sized snooker table as a Christmas present. Two years later he won the Scottish U-16 Championship. He also appeared on the BBC in the Junior version of Pot Black..
The following year he won the Scottish Amateur Championship and also became the youngest participant in the World Amateur Championship.. In 1985, after holding the title of Champion of the Scottish Amateur Championship, turned pro. With 16 years and three months old he was the youngest professional player.
In his first season he was the youngest champion of the Scottish Professional Championship. He also became the youngest player to qualify for the World Championship., a record that he held until 2.012 when Luca Brecel qualified at the age of 17 years and a month. Lost 8-10 contra Willie Thorne, who was applauded for. In the following season he retained the Scottish Professional Championship title and reached the quarterfinals of both the Grand Prix and the World Championship., losing 12-13 vs. defending champion Joe Johnson, and the semifinals of the Mercantile Credit Classic. Hendry and Mike Hallett teamed up to win that year's World Doubles Championship. In season 1987/1988 Hendry won his first ranking titles: el Grand Prix, superando a Dennis Taylor 10-7 in the end, and the British Open. He also had three other victories, retaining the title of both the Scottish Professional Championship and the World Doubles Championship (con Hallett), and winning the Australian Masters. At the end of the season, the number 4 and was voted on the BBC as Scotland's Sports Personality of the Year. In the following season there were no ranking titles, but he won the New Zealand Masters in New Zealand and also his first Masters at Wembley.
The season 1989/1990 saw the beginning of Hendry's period of domination. That year he won the UK Championship, el Dubai Classic, el Asian Open, el Scottish Masters, the Wembley Masters and its first World Championship, superando a Jimmy White 18-12 in the end, raising him to the top of the world rankings at the age of 21 years.
The following season set a record of five ranking titles in one season, including the UK Championship being on the ropes frenet Steve Davis, and did a 'hat-trick’ de Masters. But nevertheless, Hendry failed to retain his world title, losing to Steve James in the quarterfinals.
In season 1991/1992, Hendry regained the World title, winning 10 frames consecutivos, coming with an adverse marker of 8-14, to defeat White by 18-14, adding this title to the victories achieved, at both the Grand Prix and the Welsh Open. He also won the Masters and got his first 147 in competition in the Matchroom League. A year later, retained his world title and fifth consecutive Masters crown. In season 1993/1994 retained the title of World Champion, narrowly beating Jimmy White in the final, by 18-17.
In season 1994/1995, after being awarded the MBE (Member of the British Empire), won three ranking events, including the World Championship and the UK Championship, titles he defended and held the following year. In the UK final in 1994, Hendry defeated Ken Doherty by 10-5, doing 7 hundreds in the party. This Stephen Hendry performance was described by journalist David Hendon as “possibly the best anyone has ever played“.
His hit streak continued into the season 1995/.996 with three titles, including the World Championship, where a victory for 18-12 In the final against Peter Ebdon he gave him the same recognition as Ray Reardon and Steve Davis by winning his sixth world crown. In 1997 won the BBC's Scottish Sports Personality of the Year award for the second time and added another three ranking titles to its collection, although Ken Doherty denied him the sixth consecutive world crown by defeating him 18-12 in the end.
Hendry's dominant position in snooker appeared to be on the wane, since the only ranking event he won in the season 1997/1998 it was the thailand masters. In the final of the Masters of 1998 against his good friend Mark Williams, Hendry had an advantage of 9-6, needing just one more frame to achieve victory. But nevertheless, missed several chances to close out the match and eventually lost by 10-9, after the frame was decided with a re-spotted black (tied and had to replace the black ball to break the frame and the game). This match is considered by many to be one of the greatest in snooker history..
It also lost its position as a number 1 of the world for the first time since 1.990 and was eliminated in the first round of the World Championship, losing in a very forceful way against White (4-10). The season 1.998/1.999 started with an embarrassing defeat in the first round of the UK Championship, by 0-9, against Marcus Campbell. But nevertheless, Hendry resurfaced and won the last two titles of the season: the Scottish Open and its seventh World Championship, setting a record no one has yet equaled. After beating Ronnie O'Sullivan, by 17-13 in the semifinal, emerged as a compelling winner, defeating by 18-11 on future double world champion Mark Williams. This was Hendry's last World Championship title..
Hendry made a great start to the season 1999/2000 by winning two of the first three tournaments, including the British Open, where did a 147, the first maximum break in a ranking final. He also got a maximum break during the UK Championship, against Paul Wykes. But nevertheless, was surprisingly defeated in the first round of the World Championship of 2000 by newcomer Stuart Bingham.
The season 2000/2001 it was a disappointment, as he was unable to win any ranking events for the first time since the season 1.988/1.989 and reached only one end. Even so he won the European Open the following season and was close to the eighth World Championship. After eliminating defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semi-finals (17-13), lost by a narrow margin to Peter Ebdon in the final (17-18).
El Welsh Open, In the season 2002/2003, and the British Open, In the season 2003/2004 they brought back Hendry, although his victory in the Malta Cup of 2.005 remains his most recent success in a ranking tournament.
Following O'Sullivan's decision not to enter the Malta Cup in 2006, Hendry was able to retrieve the number 1 of the world ranking in the season 2005/2006 due to its consistency to reach the last stages of the tournaments. Made it to the final of the UK Championship in 2006, in a memorable quarter-final tournament against Ronnie O'Sullivan, in which O'Sullivan unexpectedly lost the game 4-1 after a good start from Hendry. The Scotsman beat Graeme Dott in the semifinal, but lost the final against Peter Ebdon for 6-10. After a disappointing stint in 2007/2008, Hendry unexpectedly reached his twelfth World Championship semi-final, a new record beating Steve Davis' tally of 11. By doing so 39 years Hendry became the oldest player to reach the semi-finals of the tournament since Terry Griffiths did in 1992.
Hendry started the season 2008/2009 with losses in their first matches, however he managed to reach the semifinal of the Bahrain Championship, who ended up losing to Matthew Stevens. In the China Open he reached the quarterfinals, where he was defeated by Peter Ebdon, the future champion of the tournament.
In the World Championship of 2009 Hendry beat Mark Williams in the first round. This victory guaranteed him a place in the top 16 of the ranking for the following season. In the next match he beat Dingh Junhui by 13-10. In that match Hendry reached another historic milestone for snooker: the frame number 1.000 cattle on the Crucible (in that same frame Hendry scored 140 points). He 28 April made a 147 contra Shaun Murphy, although he ended up losing the game against him. With 40 years, became the oldest player to make a maximum break in a ranking tournament and the second player (after O'Sullivan) to do more than one 147 on the Crucible. Hendry finished the number 10 del ranking, falling out of the top eight for the first time since the season 1987/1988.
In season 2009/2010 Hendry won his first matches in each ranking tournament, however, he did not reach the quarterfinals until the China Open, where he lost 4-5 versus Mark Allen, even though I was winning 4-2. In the first round of the World Championship, Hendry defeated the Chinese Zhang Anda. Wise iba 7-9 below, in a match for the best of 19, but he managed to win 3 frames in a row and get a win by 10-9. At the press conference, confessed that, having lost the game, would have seriously considered retiring. Lost in the second round to Mark Selby. In addition to the main tournaments he won the “Snooker Legends” beating Ken Doherty for 5-3 in the end.
In season 2010/2011 Hendry failed to maintain his undefeated career in the first round of ranking tournaments. Hendry then expressed his frustration with his physical form and revealed that he had been suffering from spasms for the past ten years. (loss of fine motor skills and no apparent explanation), rendering him unable to propel the balls and causing him to miss the simplest of shots.
Hendry started the season 2011/2012 losing in the first event of the Players Championship Tour 3-4 against Kyren Wilson. As a result of this, went down to number 17 del ranking. But it came back to the top 16 after reaching the second round of the Australian Goldfields Open. In September he played Robert Milkins in the first round of the Shanghai Masters, losing the game for 1-5 Y, consequently, lost its position at the top 16 and went to the number 21. This meant that Hendry would not participate in the Masters for the first time in 23 years and would have to qualify to reach the main phases of all ranking tournaments on the snooker calendar.
Hendry managed to qualify for the UK Championship of 2011 after beating Gerard Greene in the final qualifying round. It was their first qualifying match in many years. But nevertheless, lost to compatriot Stephen Maguire in the first round. Made it to the semifinals of the twelfth PTC event in January 2012, but he narrowly lost one more time to Maguire. Hendry needed to reach the final in order to make a place for himself among the top 24 of the Order of Merit and secure a place in the Finals. Hendry lost 1-5 in a qualifying match against James Wattana at the German Masters and, Thus, did not play in a ranking tournament for the first time in 15 years.
In the World Championship of 2012, when he qualified by defeating Yu Delu, made a 147 on the opening day of the tournament in the match against Stuart Bingham. It was his third maximum break on the Crucible and the eleventh he had achieved in his career. He went to the second round with a win by 10-4 over Bingham and then crushed John Higgins for 13-4 (his first victory against his compatriot in a ranking tournament since 2003). Hendry lost 2-13 in front of Maguire and immediately announced his withdrawal from the game, citing dissatisfaction with their level of play in recent years and difficulties in balancing competitive commitments, commercial and personal and revealed that he had made the decision three months ago.
In the following video you can see the last 147 de Stephen Hendry.
Hendry retired with these numbers: 74 professional titles, ranking second on the all-time list, behind Steve Davis. But nevertheless, Hendry holds the record for the number of ranking titles (36). In addition, won four team titles and several amateur titles. Among other records, He also holds the longest uninterrupted career of World Championship appearances (27 times) and the longest uninterrupted time inside the top 16 in the world ranking (23 seasons).
Besides snooker, Stephen Hendry is passionate about golf, of poker and football.
