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'Stephen Hendry, MBE' (born January 13, 1969 in South Queensferry, Edinburgh) is a Scottish professional snooker player, whose achievements make him one of the most successful players of the modern era. He spent a record eight consecutive years at no. 1 in the world rankings, has won the World Snooker Championship a record seven times, and was the youngest World Champion at the age of 21.
Snooker career
Amateur years (1981-1985)
Hendry started playing snooker when he was 12 years old. Two years later, in 1983, he won the National U-16 Championship. He also appeared on BBC's Junior version of Pot Black. The following year he won the Scottish Amateur Championship and also became the youngest ever entrant in the World Amateur Championship. In 1985, after retaining the the Scottish Amateur Championship he turned professional and, being just 16 years and three months old, was youngest player to become a professional.
Early career (1986-1988)
In his first season as a professional he reached the last 32 in the Mercantile Credit Classic and was the youngest ever Scottish Professional champion. In the next season he retained the Scottish Professional Championship and also reached the quarter finals of both the Grand Prix and World Championship and also, the semi-finals of the Mercantile Credit Classic. Hendry and Mike Hallett combined to win the World Doubles Championship this year also. Hendry won his first world ranking titles in the 1987/88 season: the Grand Prix and the British Open. He also claimed three other tournament victories this season, after retaining both the Scottish Professional Championship and, again with Mike Hallett, the World Doubles Championship, and also winning the Australian Masters. Hendry was also the 1987 BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year. By the end of this season Stephen was now ranked as number 4 in the world. The following season was slightly disappointing for him as he failed to win any ranking titles, although he did bag two other titles - the New Zealand Masters and also his first Masters at Wembley.
Glory years (1989-1999)
The 1989/1990 season saw the beginning of Stephen Hendry's sustained period of dominance. In this season he won the UK Championship, Dubai Classic, Asian Open, Scottish Masters, Wembley Masters and also his first World Championship. This saw him rise to the summit of the World Rankings at the age of 21. The season after that he set the record of winning the most world ranking titles in a season by winning five, however, those ranking titles did not include the World Championship. Hendry also won a third consecutive Masters at Wembley. In 1991/92 season Hendry regained the world title adding to the victories in both the Grand Prix and the Welsh Open. Hendry again won the Masters but also achieved his first competitive 147 break, this coming in the Matchroom League. A year later he celebrated retaining both his World Championship title and also another Masters title to achieve a unique feat of winning five Masters titles in a row. The following season he, again, won the World Championship but he failed to make it a sixth successive Masters victory. In 1994/95, after being awarded an MBE, he won three ranking events including another World Championship and UK Championship and the following season retained both of these tournaments. In 1996 he won BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year award for a second time and during this season he also added another three ranking titles to his collection but surprisingly none of them were the World Championship. Ken Doherty denied Hendry a sixth consecutive championship, and seventh in all, by defeating the Scot 18-12 in the final. Hendry's dominance in the sport seemed to be on the decrease as the only ranking event he won in the 1997/98 season was the Thailand Masters and also lost his number one place for the first time which he had held since 1990. He was also eliminated in the First Round of the World Championship by 10-4 to Jimmy White. It seemed these couple of seasons may be just a blip, however, as Hendry won a seventh World Title in 1999 and also the Scottish Open. The following seasons proved the previous couple of seasons was not a just a blip as, to date, this was his last World Championship title and has also just chalked up 5 world ranking titles since.
Recent years (1999-present)
In 1999/2000 he again managed to win a ranking event albeit just the one - the British Open. The following season was a major disappointment for Hendry as he failed to win a ranking event for the first time since the 1988/89 season. The closest he got was appearances in the finals of both the Grand Prix and the Thailand Masters. He managed to win a ranking tournament, however, in the next season by being victorious in the European Open. He also came close to an eighth World Championship but could not defeat Peter Ebdon in the final. He did manage to win a ranking tournament in each of the last two seasons - Welsh Open and British Open but then went another season without a victory. He then went another season without a victory but in 2005 he won his last ranking tournament up to this stage with a victory in the Malta Cup. Despite this he managed to regain his postition as world number 1 in 2006 due to consistency in reaching the latter stages of tournaments even though not ending up actually winning them. He has lost this position since though and is now ranked number eight in the world.
Hendry's other career records include: total ranking titles, consecutive wins of a single tournament, total tournament wins in one season, longest consecutive winning streak, most 147s compiled in competitive play, most centuries compiled in one match, most centuries compiled in one tournament, most career centuries and total prize money.
Playing style
Hendry tends to play at a moderate pace and methodically working through the vast majority of break building opportunities. His skills are helped considerably by the use of high-speed pots off the blue cannoning, using heavy amounts of back spin, into the pack of reds, a shot now used frequently by all players, but first mastered and popularised by Hendry. Aside from his extraordinary break-building consistency, Hendry's long-potting was crucial to his success. Tactically, Hendry has typically played a very aggressive form of snooker, going for even very difficult chances. He will almost always open up the pack of reds early in his break rather than wait until the frame is safe. This method has helped him to achieve over 700 competitive century breaks.
Hendry is a specialist at potting balls in the middle pocket, often from tight angles by taking pace off the shot and letting the object ball drop in off the knuckle.
In recent years, neither Hendry's break-building nor long potting seem to have reached the heights he took them to at his zenith, and this has allowed players more openings against him. While without a title win all year, the 2005/2006 season marked something of a return to form for Hendry, who became the world's number 1 once more, but, by his own admission, he has still not produced his form of old.[1]
Off the table
Hendry was brought up in Fife, where he attended Inverkeithing High School. He now lives in the small town of Auchterarder with his wife Mandy, whom he married in 1995, and sons Blaine (born 1996) and Carter (born 2004). His main hobbies include playing golf and poker. He lives close to the Gleneagles and as a result has a single figure handicap. He enjoys his poker also and is one of the few snooker players who has appeared in a televised poker tournament. Hendry is also keenly interested in football and music. He supports Scottish side Hearts and, regarding music, likes both U2 and Suede.
Tournament wins
;Ranking Tournaments
| ;Other Major Tournaments
|
2007/2008 Season
Matches
These are Stephen Hendry's results in all ranking events and major invitational tournaments for the current season.
| Date | Opponent | Competition | Round | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 July | John Higgins | Euro-Asia Masters Challenge | Round-robin | |
| 13 July | James Wattana | Euro-Asia Masters Challenge | Round-robin | |
| 13 July | Ding Junhui | Euro-Asia Masters Challenge | Round-robin | |
| 8 August | Nigel Bond | Shanghai Masters | First Round | |
| 9 August | Stephen Lee | Shanghai Masters | Second Round | |
Tournament Record
This is Stephen Hendry's record in tournaments for this season.
| Tournament | Result | Prize Money | Ranking Points | Highest Break | Century Breaks | First Game | Matches Won | Last Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Euro-Asia Masters Challenge | | | | | | | | |
| Shanghai Masters | | | | | | | | |
| Betfred Premier League | | | | | | | | |
| Pot Black Cup | | | | | | | | |
| Grand Prix | | | | | | | | |
| Northern Ireland Trophy | | | | | | | | |
| UK Snooker Championship | | | | | | | | |
| The Masters | | | | | | | | |
| Welsh Open | | | | | | | | |
| China Open | | | | | | | | |
| World Snooker Championship | | | | | | | | |
| 'Overall' | | | | | | | | |
Notes and references
1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/snooker/6603987.stm
External links
★ Player Profile on worldsnooker.com
★ Player Biography on bios.com
★ Player Profile on snooker.org
★ Player Profile on snookerclub.com
★ Player Profile on billiardindex.com
★ Player Details on snookermanager.com
★ Player profile and contact detail on 110sport.com
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