Oct 27

Oct 27 Stephen Hendry – The King of the Crucible

Kurt Edwards

Stories

A profile of Stephen Hendry, one of the finest Snooker players ever

A Young Stephen Hendry in 1983

Stephen Hendry is one of the most accomplished British sportsmen of all time.

The 7-time World Champion announced his retirement from professional snooker in 2012 while he was still considered among the world’s best players. The announcement in September 2020 that Hendry would return to the pro tour for the first time in 8 years makes this the perfect time to recap his illustrious career.

In his first piece for The Sporting Blog, Kurt Edwards is at the baize with a profile of the legendary Stephen Hendry.

Stephen Hendry’s Early Life

Hendry was born in West Lothian but spent his early years in Glasgow and later moved with his family to Fife where he spent most of his teenage years.

It was at age 12 when Hendry began playing snooker, after receiving a cue and a child-sized table for Christmas. To say he took to the game like a duck to water would be an understatement, just two years after he first picked up a cue Hendry won the Scottish U16 Championship.

Aged just 15, Hendry won the senior Scottish Amateur Championship and also entered the senior Amateur World Championship before becoming the youngest ever professional snooker player when he turned pro aged 16.

Stephen Hendry’s Professional Career

Less than a year after turning pro, and just 5 after picking up a cue for the first time, Hendry became the youngest player ever to qualify for a World Championship. He would go on to lose in the first round, but the talent was there for all to see from a very early age.

It was in Hendry’s third year as a pro that he won his first ranking events, taking the now-defunct British and World Opens and he never looked back. The following year Hendry broke the top 10 in the world rankings for the first time and won his first triple crown event by taking the 1989 Masters.

That is in many ways where his dominance started, he would take his second Masters, first World Championship, and first UK Championship the next year to complete an unprecedented single-season triple crown.

In 1990 Hendry would become World Number 1 for the first time, a position he would retain for most of the decade, not relinquishing it until 1999.

Hendry would go on to dominate the ‘90’s triple crown events, winning 5 Masters in a row and later taking a 6th, as well as 5 UK Championships. But his true greatness comes from the World Championship which he won 7 times including a run of 5 consecutive, leading him to being dubbed the ‘King of the Crucible.’

Greatest Moment in Hendry’s Career

Any number of moments from Hendry’s illustrious career could be selected for this but his 7th and final World Championship just edges it. It was the moment the Hendry cemented himself as a true great by breaking the record for most World Championships in the modern era.

He did it by beating another great, Mark Williams, in the final 17-10 at the iconic Crucible Theatre in Sheffield