Will the Stephen Hendry we once knew ever return?

pmy.murphy

Will he ever challenge for major honours again??

TheBody

Somehow I doubt it. He brought the game forward in leaps and bounds in his hayday. He developed some wonderful techniques. A legend of the game in my book.

pmy.murphy

It would be great for the game if he could. Never say never, just look what happened to mark williams.

Zimmerframe

pmy.murphy wrote: »

It would be great for the game if he could. Never say never, just look what happened to mark williams.

Yep, but Hendry is a further 6 years older than Williams.
Would love to see it, but I think it's very unlikely.

zack01

pmy.murphy wrote: »

Will he ever challenge for major honours again??

In a word 'no'
Hendrys days of winning majors or at least competing in the business end of tournaments are I'm afraid a thing of the past.
Believe me I'm his biggest fan but the fact is as a force in the game he's finished, we will I'm sure see the odd flash of brilliance but that's as far as it goes.

pmy.murphy

Its an awful pity to see such a great player being defeated in the first round in nearly every tournament

cherryghost

It's the nature of the game so I'm not surprised tbh. I still reckon he's still got it for a few tourney semis/finals though

Bruthal

Zimmerframe wrote: »

Yep, but Hendry is a further 6 years older than Williams.
Would love to see it, but I think it's very unlikely.

Also, it was not a decline in ability that seen williams drop down the rankings, it seemed probably more likely a lack of motivation or interest.

pmy.murphy

robbie7730 wrote: »

Also, it was not a decline in ability that seen williams drop down the rankings, it seemed probably more likely a lack of motivation or interest.

It seems like maybe the same thing with hendry. He still shows some flashes of brilliance which tells us its still there to a certain degree.

Bruthal

pmy.murphy wrote: »

It seems like maybe the same thing with hendry. He still shows some flashes of brilliance which tells us its still there to a certain degree.

Its still not at the consistent level it was though. He used to come to the table and once he was in, the frame was as good as over. Its probably just not possible to be as good in the 40`s as in the 20`s maybe. Even though now and again it comes out.

He could possibly still dominate now if he was as good as he was in the early 90`s, even though there is a bigger field of stronger players now.

grifter09

I think its probably mainly down to practise and lack of it.
No one wants to spend their whole lives on the table.
So what has left to prove?
Nothing in my opinion.
Snooker is there now for his enjoyment when he feels like playing.
No one can be consistent without putting in the time on the table.

Bruthal

No one can stay as good as they were forever either, no matter how much they practice, there has to be a decline, which in this case started a fair few years ago.

pmy.murphy

i dont think he has the desire to put in the time practising like he used to

giant_midget

Eventually the qualifers will swallow him up. He'll start losing that 1 match that he needs to gain entry then need to play 2 matches and so and so...Im a massive Hendry fan, have been cheering him on since i was a child.

He is/was great to watch. I do think that he has a few qtr & semi finals left in him. He really needs to be winning the first match now all the time, The pressure is on!

StephenHendry

i hope so, he did get to a semi in one of the PTC tournaments this season, beaten by maguire. as he is ranked no. 19 atm, he will face one of the top player by the 2nd round each tournament, which for the welsh open will be against robertson.

i've been a fan since the late 80's, the uk open final of 1988 against mountjoy sticks in my mind even though he lost.

stevemc01

He's just beaten Robertson 4-1, that's a great result for him. Nice to see him get a good win under his belt.

pmy.murphy

you see, its still there. Class is permanant form is temporary