The last time Stephen Hendry had to qualify for the Crucible, Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street and Ronald Reagan was in the White House.
Mobile phones were the size of a house brick and if you mentioned the internet to anyone they would assume you were talking about fishing.
The year was 1988. Hendry was 19 but had already won two of that season’s world ranking tournaments, the Grand Prix and British Open.
He defeated Jon Wright 10-4 to qualify for Sheffield and has been there as a seed ever since. Earlier this season he lost his place in the elite top 16 and has thus returned to the qualifiers: older and considerably richer than he was 24 years ago but still as determined as ever.
Tonight, Hendry will play Jimmy White at the Crucible in a Snooker Legends event. There will be much rekindling of golden memories – at least for Hendry – but the serious business starts tomorrow.
The signs are encouraging. Hendry has only lost one qualifier all season. He has adjusted to life in the prelims better than many other legends of the sport.
The truth is, Hendry is not playing consistently well enough to be a member of the top 16 but is still better than most players ranked below him.
Hendry’s opponent in the final qualifying round is Yu Delu, who was born a few weeks before Hendry won his first ranking title in October 1987.
Yu is one of a growing number of dangerous Chinese players. He will be well aware of Hendry’s record of achievement but has no reason to be too overawed.
They aren’t playing at the Crucible but in a cubicle in the badminton hall of the EIS in Sheffield. This is a leveller and Hendry could be forgiven for feeling the pressure.
He will be working for the BBC on the last five days of the World Championship but to fail to be part of the 32-man field would be a bitter blow for someone who used to own the place.
Nobody goes on forever. White and Steve Davis have already fallen by the wayside at this week. Former champions Ken Doherty and Peter Ebdon will be put through the mill of trying to qualify over the weekend.
There are younger faces around. Luca Brecel will become the youngest ever Crucible competitor if he beats Mark King.
But Hendry is the star attraction in the final qualifying round. The Crucible’s most successful player faces a nervy couple of days, not that nerves were ever a problem in his heyday.
23 comments:
Stephen Hendry is a legend and whatever happens over the weekend, he is the greatest. I always feel he will have one or two more memorable moments, so we shall see...
So far, all 9 players in the qualifiers who have contested a WC semi final have been beaten with none being successful in getting to the final qualifying round. (Parrott, McCulloch, Swail, Davis, White, Bond, Hicks, Wattana and McManus all lost). Five more players with that pedigree play in this round (Doherty, Perry, Ebdon, Fu and of course Hendry) I fancy all of them to win, but also fancied quite a few to win in the last round. Evidence indeed that there has been a changing of the guard.
you are my HENDO...
If you had asked years ago "Who would be playing a higher standard of snooker in their early 40s, Ebdon or Hendry?" - the majority would have said Hendry. Particularly because of the way Ebdon plays the game as it is so exacting on mind and body. The trouble is Hendry still thinks he's 23 not 43 and he has not adapted his game accordingly. He should get huge inspiration from what Ebdon has achieved in the China Open. Perhaps Hendry cares too much about his style of play rather than the winning which is strange seeing as previously winning was his sole driving force. Good luck tomorrow Stephen.
David;
I think it is a shame that the BBC are going to use Stephen for the semi-finals and finals, perhaps they are expecting him to have an extended run.
After being left out of the Masters coverage in January, will the Great WT have a substansial role this year?
My home for the Championship, though, will be British Eurosport.
Last year Alan McManus was a great addition to the team, I hope he will be on duty again this year.
The ever controversial Matthew Syed was a great aspect of the covearge back in 2007 with his roving reports, shame he hasn't been back since.
Ryan
I anticipate many crestfallen former champions not making the Crucible.
Whichever way you look at it, Yu Delu will defeat Hendry, he won't be phased by someone old enough to be his grandmother.
I think Hendry mainly hasn't adapted his game because he simply wouldn't enjoy playing a week of canny safety. It's an interesting dilemma he faces, because he's played the game on his own terms for so long, so how much should he compromise the pleasure he gets from his style of play for the results he clearly wants? I think generally a player should play to his strengths, and Stephen will do his most damage when he is in the balls scoring heavily. He can still do that as his recent maximums prove, but the problem is with the frames that go scrappy, where he gives too much away. He really does need to mix it more though, perhaps use an open and attacking style and take his chances when the balls are in play and there is a potential for a big break, but when the frames turn scrappy or tactical he should try to make his experience count for a bit more than what he has been doing. If he can share scrappy frames he will win a hell of a lot more matches.
WT will be there for the BBC. Alan McManus will be doing Eurosport again. Matthew is much in demand as a general sports pundit and writer: his back Bounce has done very well.
I believe Yu Delu will defeat Stephen Hendry.
The Chinese revolution has already started.
Dave I've been enjoying your Heroes of the Crucible pieces, but how about a post on the unsung heroes? There must be loads of people who work tirelessly behind the scenes who never get a mention or a thank you.
Why can't Hendry do the events entire duration? Doherty and Davis do the coverage even if they qualify.
Matthew Syed would be excellent on anything, one of the two best sports journalists in the country. Must take a look at the Bounce book.
I'm taking it Clive won't be in the box.
My main hopes for the weekend: Hamilton and Brecel to qualify.
I'd like to see Brecel do the deed too. If he qualified would he be the youngest ever qualifier at the Crucible?
He'd be the youngest to play at the Crucible. O'Sullivan qualified when he was 16 because the qualifiers were held in September.
Sorry to post this here Dave but do you know if the Dott book is going to released in paperback?
Fred
Anonymous said...
I anticipate many crestfallen former champions not making the Crucible.
Whichever way you look at it, Yu Delu will defeat Hendry, he won't be phased by someone old enough to be his grandmother.
9:49 PM
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thank you ronnie police for your informative post.
jamie brannon said...
Why can't Hendry do the events entire duration?
11:48 AM
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he will be there playing and trying to get far. if he did, he wouldnt have to miss much of what he planned to commentate on.
there are also other contracts still running for others and so it wouldnt be cost effective to add hendry for the 17 days duration, even if he didnt qualify, though tht may change in the near future.
that is, if ronnie doesnt retire ( again ;) ) and take some elocution lessons.....
Don't know about the Dott book
ah the HENDO
Hope anon didnt bet his house on hendry loosing!
Well Done Brecel! Great performance!
Dave, watched brecel/king live stream. From what i seen king made full use of his toilet breaks, brecel seemed to say i'll beat you at that game and did!
King didnt break any rules of coarse, but lesser players would hve had concentration broken, you have to hand it to the young man.
Well, Brecel is going to have to win this thing to save his tour place, but I hope he gets a wildcard for his efforts. It would wrong to dump the youngest Crucible debutante off the tour. How many 17 year olds have played at the Crucible? Hendry, Ronnie, Trump, Chuang? Three of those have reached at least a world final.
I know it's not paperback but you can buy the Dott book from here for as little as 56p, delivery charge £2-80...
http://amzn.to/IDID0H
I know there has only been one Cruicble whitewash, but with Ebdon's and McGill's whitewashes in the qualifiers how frequent are whitewashes at that stage? I can't recall any other in recent years, anyone know how many there have been?
They do happen but they're still rare
In 2005, Ali Carter beat James Wattana 10-0.
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