Stephen Hendry’s Incredible Journey To Becoming A Seven-Time World Champion

Stephen tells the story of his career and how he became a seven-time world snooker champion.

Buy ‘Me and the Table – My Autobiography’ – https://amzn.to/3Urqb3o

Follow Stephen on Social:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cuetipsofficial
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@stephenhendryscuetips
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SHendry775
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/s_hendry775

#cuetips #snooker #stephenhendry

it’s probably that day where snooker for me changed I kind of thought well I’m pretty good at this game I thought it was going to be too difficult I was going to get beat all the time I was going to fall out in love with snooker the talent kind of came to me straight away it was the fact that I’d beaten Steve that was the big thing in that event I’m going to win the World Championship by time 21 one thing in Ronnie unless he’s Benjamin Button he’s not going to beat that one I just used to go the Cru I know I was going to win feeling Invincible I think I came second in the sports Personality to gascoin although amazing to equal the record I thought I have to win seven what’s the point of just being the same this is probably the last time I played proper snooker at The Crucible for me the enjoyment is winning and it’s one that still hurts me to this day it’s the reason I I called my autobiography me and the table this is basically what I used to do from the age of I don’t know 15 16 be in a room in a club just puttting balls basically but it’s one of the reasons being in a club I also think was better than I did have a table at home at the end of my career and it wasn’t it wasn’t quite the same because I think playing in a club it’s got to feel like you’re you’re going to work you’re actually going you go the same time every day I used to arrive at the club about half 10 and leave at the same time about 4: 5:00 so it’s basically like good job and I think it’s got to seem like a job and then you get that talking about outside noises you get that atmosphere of being in a club and it actually it makes it makes practice that a little bit more enjoyable I see a lot of players now they have um practice tables in sort of uh units in business parks where there’s literally no noise so there’s no atmosphere um I kind of used to like the sort of Club atmosphere of there would people would come around and watch people would would be sort of Milling around rather than just be you know I find these some of these units the guys have a bit although the conditions on the table the lighting and everything’s perfect I a bit cold in terms of atmosphere I wouldn’t like to be stuck in there for four five 6 hours every day but this would basically be me for well it’s basically my manager uh Ian Doyle was the one that um when a first term Pro I was kind of like mucking about a bit in the club where I was playing mates um not really working on my game just basically having a good time training is almost like a hobby um he sort of uh had a spying mission to see what I was doing and one of the conditions for him taking over my career was that I had to go to his club and it had to become a job of work um he had an office um outside the room where where my table was and basically said you’re going to stay in here from 10:00 till 6:00 7 days a week I hated it in the beginning cuz it was just like I’d never it’s probably that day where snooker for me changed it changed from a hobby to being a job and a career it was something that rather than going to Club when I wanted to have fun it was I had to be in a club I had to be at the table to work and basically this is what I would do for 6 7 8 hours a day 7 days a week it was a long way from um getting a small table for my Christmas 6t X 3T table when I was 12 years old cuz that’s how it started I never played snooker before I never even watched snooker on TV but fell in love with the game straight away my father’s father was a was supposedly a really good snooker player he he died before I was born my dad wasn’t really that good he could put a couple of balls but that was it so the talent kind of came to me straight away I was able to I just knew what to do and within sort of 3 4 weeks I was making 50 breaks fortunately mom and dad didn’t force me to get my homework done I think they always thought it was going to be a success at snooker I think my dad especially he always thought it was going to be world champion I think uh probably confirmed I went to P ponton in praten when I was 14 and it was just really to see how how good I was comp to the the other other kids my age really under 16s um and I won it first tournament I entered got £1 cash and £1 ponon vouchers which I never used but um that kind of I kind of thought well I’m pretty good at this game you know against the other sort of boys and girls my age up and down the country I I I won it and that was sort of um just made me want to play even more the only job I’ve ever had my dad used to sell fruit and vegetable shops I used to pack potatoes into 3 51 bags and that was to pay for my practice cuz the club where I played actually the the first Club I played in was called mocos in Dum f it was real old school snooker Club there was no bar no restaurant just an old Club where you could get like go into the office and get a can of Coke or something that was the first time I played in a fulls size table but as I say when I had that that job to pay for my practice it was uh called the classic snooker Center still in dland and uh yeah so that’s where I used to spend all weekends cuz obviously still at school but by then I wasn’t I mean at the end of my school and I left at 15 and a half I think I I had four levels I turned up for two and fail the other two it’s pretty clear that there was only one thing that I was going to do I won the Scottish amateur senior title when I was 14 went played in the world amateur in Dublin didn’t do too well 15 I retained that Scottish amateur senior title and in those days in order to turn professional you had to either win the world amateur or your National Title so I had a decision from winning the Scottish amateur to either turn could turn pro at 16 cuz that was a minimum age then or playing the world amateur again which my dad and everyone thought had a good chance of winning I played that up a terrible positional shot there just concentrating this minute oh terrible I think that was thinking about the story but yeah so I decided to turn pro decided there was nothing more I could learn in the amateur circuit that was all going so well so I think between my father and I we decided that as I say I couldn’t learn anything else as an amateur so why not just turn pro at 16 which a lot of people frowned on um especially the sort of older Brigade of snooker they thought it was going to be too difficult I was going to get beat all the time I was going to fall out in love with snooker and it was difficult in the beginning I was losing a lot more than I was winning but I loved it I loved the the fact that you had perfect tables um you had to wear the bow tie the whole stuff you had referees um the whole situation just I loved it straight away but obviously being pro there’s there’s a lot of expense involved and so that’s why Ian Doyle who who sponsored the Scottish amateur um competition he came into my life not immediately but then as I say he imposed this regime which as I say I hated but within a couple of weeks of practicing 6 hours a day and it’s why I always say now practice is so important working hard at the game okay what I was doing is probably too much but my game I could I could feel my game improving almost day by day to the point where I won a Scottish professional Championship um which is sort of first major winners appro [Music] then I did this tour with Steve Davis in Scotland six nights tour obviously Steve Davis was the number one the best player in the world um Jimmy white was my hero when I first started when I first got the table for Christmas it was all about Jimmy just because of the shots he played took my off the pot there perfect position That’s a classic example of never take your eyee off the pot that Jimmy was my hero but then when I seen Steve Davis winning I wanted to be like him so we did the six night tour and uh he beat me every night humiliated me but I learned so much so basically that routine there when I was in the room for 6 hours I would try and do that routine I’d set up a different one now but i’ try and do the line up 10 times in a row and if I missed I would start again i’ go back to one basically a snooker player’s life is routine after routine repetition repetition repetition puttting balls all day it’s one of the reasons why I think people always ask why do snooker players never play on till like 70 80 and I know that the longevity of a Sullivan and Higgins and Williams these people they’re almost 50 is incredible but one of the reasons you don’t certainly for myself was just been able to practice do this still day in day out very difficult I think the top players don’t practice as much as perhaps they used to so the the tour with Steve Davis it taught me I mean it taught me a couple of things it told me that my game wasn’t anywhere near where you know miles away from where it should be if I want to be do anything in a game not just be world champion be world number one or the B just to basically to win matches and but it wasn’t even that it was just the way he treated the whole he could have treated it as like an exhibition tour and not tried but every day of the on the day of the exhibition he would find a club to practice and then every night he would just take me apart basically cuz I was just going for everything I had no say the game whatsoever some would say still don’t but definitely then I didn’t but I actually jumped jumped a story a bit it was after that tour that I won the Scottish professional title because one of the reasons I won it I think is because I thought these guys aren’t Steve Davis you know I’m going to get chances against these guys they’re not going to just clear the table every time I miss so it was it sort of took the pressure off a bit [Music] my first professional title um as opposed to not just exclusively Scottish players was in Australia in 1987 I think it was in Sydney I remember I had to share room in Mike howlet which wasn’t great nothing against Mike I just don’t like sharing but uh actually beat Mike in the final share in a room that’s quite awkward beat Alex Higgins think in a semi-final actually thing about Alex is when when when I turned pro at 16 he used to always asked me to practice with them whenever we’re at venues you used to always to come and have a game come and have a game and I couldn’t believe it I was playing like getting to practice with Alex Higgins you know one of my heroes cuz when I when I had a small table at home basically I used to just watch Snicker on TV and see a shot and then just try and recreate it on a small table obviously you couldn’t because a lot of the shots because of the cloth and the balls is nowhere near that’s how I learned really just by watching TV but to practice with Alex Higgins was just uh was was amazing but the tournament in Australia Steve Davis wasn’t in it so I still had still hadn’t beaten Steve as a pro i’ been a pro for like a couple years ever I still hadn’t beaten him even in an exhibition so my manager came up with this idea of watching all the videos of my matches with Steve what I seen from it then you know apart from just going to cheat a bit apart from the fact that he was you know beating me and my safety game wasn’t great but the thing I I seen from it was that I was actually was getting chances in my head I was basically getting no chances but he did Miss but because I was so kind of in a of him thinking he was invincible I didn’t see the fact I was getting chances to pop balls but I just wasn’t wasn’t taking them if I was able just to take my chances I could beat him so that season my first major ranking event was the rothman’s Grand Prix at the hexagon in reading and uh played Steve in the quarterfinals and that was the first time that was my first time beating Steve Davis went on to win it beat Dennis in the final more than probably even winning the tournament which is obviously to win a major ranking I was 18 it was the fact that I’d beaten Steve that was the big thing in that event I now knew that I could go on and and and be or challenge Steve I think I won another title that season I think I won the British Open so steadily moving up the rankings obviously the the ambition for every player when they when they Pro when they first start if they’ve got serious Ambitions obviously be world champion I actually said in an interview with the Daily Record in Scotland when I turned pro at 16 that I’m going to win the World Championship by time 21 now it was a bit of bado not sure whe I totally believed it but that was kind of the line that they were were going to tell everyone through I do through my dad I’m 21 in the world championship and well first of all I beat John parro in the semi-final to become world number one so in doing that I was just so confident um going into the final and obviously in the final I meet Jimmy white who’s my hero um and the reason I think the reason we Jimmy and I love playing each other our games were very compatible we both played very open game so we knew we were going to give the other one chances if I was playing Steve I knew I to really be patient and wait I knew that I would get chance I was so confident going it that final and uh yeah to be achieve my ambitions world number one world champion at 21 which is still a record by the way it’s one thing in Ronnie unless he Benjamin Button he’s not going to beat that one and then of course you’re you’re you’re the best player in the world which I loved you’re the one that everyone wants to beat you’re the target again I love that next season I think I won six five or six tournaments I think I won the first four ranking events of the season um yeah dominated the season got to the world championship of course The Crucible curse that everyone talks about where no one has ever defended the world championship after winning it a first time at The Crucible and I was convinced I was going to do it people thought that maybe cuz i’ won so many tournaments and you might be a bit tired there might be a bit of fatigue I thought it was all nonsense I lost in the quarterfinal to Steve James absolutely devastated I think the match finished about 10: at night and uh said to John who used to drive my around it’s okay I want to go home back to Scotland I don’t want to stay overnight got to get home I didn’t say one word to him for 4 hours the whole journey absolutely devastated sulked in my apartment for a week I think didn’t turn on the TV didn’t want to watch a world championship even having so much success in that season I think I came second in the sports Personality at the end of that year to gascoin Paul gascoin who uh obviously England got to the semi-finals of the World Cup I came second the ’90s was obviously my my time from 92 obviously winning five World titles in a row I’m feeling Invincible I mean I just used to go to Chris one know I was going to win the famous story that I’ve told in my book asking uh my wife at the time to bring me my jacket cuz I want to wear that after the final at the party even before the tournament even started just taken for granted winning it’s a great feeling to have so five years in a row four finals against Jimmy suppose could have probably should have won or lost two of those Jimmy being 148 in front and obviously the one where side in frame Jimmy missing the black of a spot one of them I won can’t remember which year uh maybe you guys can leave a comment remind me I can’t remember one year I won with a fractured elbow went to the bathroom in the middle of night and slipped used my hand to break the Fallen fractured elbow so I was pretty much in a bit of pain the but still managed to win cuz basically what happened was I couldn’t I wouldn’t be able to lift the rest I had to get the referee to lift the rest that was too sore and sort of getting down and getting up I was in agony but once I could put the weight down on the table I was actually fine to play the shot there was no pain then those were good times in the ’90s and of course winning a seventh against my old friend Mark Williams to break the record cuz basically when I won six I equaled Steve Davis’s record and the next morning although amazing to equal the record I thought I have to win seven what’s the point of just being the same you know similar question to what I asked Ronnie surely wants to win the eth and who knows he might do I’ll explain what I do here so I used to have all the Reds so the be five five five five and basically you’re putting Blues in the corners and just going round to the to the other side it’s quite a good routine for queing straight queing I mean queing is probably not as straight as it used to be but it was something that I used to rely on a lot it’s a great shot to get you back in if you lost position basically you’re just going around the table putting Blues into the corners and you have to go a fluke but yeah W won the seventh World title and said in the press conference that actually if if I didn’t win another match in my whole career I couldn’t you know I couldn’t want for anything else so kind of Switched Off in that in that one comment actually obviously didn’t win another world title so this is a weakness so you have to keep going to your P it obviously two finals I lost after that first one to Ken Dy sorry not after that I’m getting it wrong Ken was 97 that was during the ’90s so yeah lost to Ken actually outscored him points wise and in centuries but lost lost the match I’m just going to adjust my aiming a little bit I missed two of them to this knuckle so I’m just going to adjust a little bit hopefully this will make a difference excuse me will I concentrate yeah just needed to concentrate yeah so two finals one to Ken in 97 and one to Ebon in 2002 where I beat Ronny in the semi-final probably the only Grudge Match I’ve ever had in my career um on the morning of the semi-final before it started John came to my room with a newspaper and said have you seen what Ronnie said I said no what is it um so basically a whole lot of stuff saying he was going to send me back to Scotland my sad little life he was going to beat me he didn’t like me um basically creating this whole bad atmosphere for the match so I thought fair enough if I didn’t need had the incentive from being in a semi-final of the world I had even more this is probably the last time I played proper snooker at The Crucible was that semi-final in 2002 cuz all the years after that I didn’t play anywhere near um what I can but I won that match I thought that was the final um Peter Edon beat Matthew Stevens in the other semi-final I thought whoever won it Ronny I was going to win it so after beat Ronnie I thought there’s no way Peter abedon can beat me over four sessions there just no way and I went and not fully focused and and lost 1817 and it’s one that still hurts me to this day that’s the best one of the four that was good that one but basically you got to keep this routine you got to keep going around so 21 balls basically keep going round and round then when you finish that then you set up a bit of an angle and do the whole thing again with all 21 balls and you’ve got to do it in a row if you miss you got to start again that was kind of the end um of my obviously the ’90s end of my domination um obviously my Q smashed my original q that I won all the titles with coming back from Thailand um that that’s smashed because we we couldn’t any longer take them on board because of 9/11 so we had to put them in the hold so my one piece queue became a two-piece queue unintentionally so changing cues was quite a big thing in my career oo that wasn’t good from then on yeah from won I think won 70 titles maybe with my original q and won maybe five or six more with with whatever Q used since then did get back to world number one but without really dominating anymore um partly because the standard of players was improving obviously people say was it family M I don’t think so I think I was still as dedicated as ever um maybe until sort of 2006 7 maybe I did stop practicing as much um and then developed what I’ve gone is developed The Yips in my Q action which I still have now and then 2012 that was poor that’s probably cuz I’m thinking about how tired that’s probably what I missed that by so far yeah last World Championship I had to qualify for cuz I dropped down the rankings uh outside the top 16 so I qualify play Stuart Bing I make a 147 in my last appearance at The Crucible everyone said how can you make a 147 and retire but I I I’ve said it many times out the thir or six shots I maybe hit five or six properly um it was my game technically was pretty much shot and it was a real struggle beat John Higgins after that in the round after but it was a poor match and then my final match lost 132 to Steve Maguire and uh yeah that was it retired had enough people say if you enjoy it you can keep playing for me the enjoyment is winning and once the enjoyment of winning is gone um that is that’s that that’s takes it away from me all the all the desire to practice goes out the window really still love just hitting balls I still love coming into a room with a snooker table I still enjoy doing exhibitions I still enjoy sometimes hitting the ball nice like that that was quite nice so as long as those tables around I should keep [Music] playing