Stephen Hendry
Stephen Gordon Hendry is a Scottish former professional snooker player and a current commentator and pundit. One of the most successful players in snooker history, he turned professional in 1985, aged 16, and rose rapidly through the snooker world rankings, reaching number four in the world by the end of his third professional season. He won his first World Snooker Championship in 1990, aged 21 years and 106 days, making him the sport's youngest world champion, a record he still holds. He won seven world titles between 1990 and 1999, setting a new modern-era record that stood outright until Ronnie O'Sullivan equalled it in 2022. He also won the Masters six times and the UK Championship five times for a career total of 18 Triple Crown tournament wins, a total exceeded only by O'Sullivan's 23. His total of 36 ranking titles is second only to O'Sullivan's 41, while his nine seasons as world number one were the most by any player under the annual ranking system used until 2010.
Hendry's five consecutive Masters titles between 1989 and 1993 and five consecutive world titles between 1992 and 1996 remain records in the modern era. His 36 consecutive victories in ranking events between March 1990 and January 1991 and his 29 consecutive wins at the Crucible between 1992 and 1997 also remain modern-era records. One of three players to have won all three Triple Crown events in a single season, he is the only player to have achieved the feat twice, in the 1989–90 and 1995–96 seasons. His 777 career century breaks include 11 maximum breaks, putting him in third place behind O'Sullivan and John Higgins for the most officially recognised maximums in professional competition. Awarded an MBE in 1994, he was twice named the BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year, in 1987 and 1996.
Hendry's form became less consistent after his sixth world title in 1996 and his career declined in the 2000s, his play increasingly affected by the yips. He reached the last of his nine world finals at the 2002 World Championship but lost in a deciding frame to Peter Ebdon. He won his last ranking title at the 2005 Malta Cup and reached his last ranking final at the 2006 UK Championship, where he was again defeated by Ebdon. During the 2011–12 season, he fell out of the top 16 in the world rankings for the first time in 23 years. He qualified for the 2012 World Championship, where he made his 27th consecutive Crucible appearance, but he announced his retirement from professional snooker at age 43 following a 2–13 defeat to Stephen Maguire in the quarter-finals. After almost nine years in retirement, he returned to professional competition during the 2020–21 season under an invitational tour card. He played sporadically on the professional tour over four seasons but secured only three wins in 20 professional matches and retired again after the 2023–24 season. Hendry has also competed on the World Seniors Tour and has twice been a semi-finalist at the World Seniors Championship.
Early life
Hendry's parents, Gordon Hendry and Irene Rixson, met as teenagers in the late 1960s while working at a woollen merchant in Edinburgh. Irene, who worked as a secretary, became pregnant, and she and Gordon moved into a bedroom of his grandmother's flat in St Leonard's, Edinburgh. Irene was 18 years old when she gave birth to Hendry on 13 January 1969. The family subsequently moved to Gorgie. Hendry's younger brother Keith was born in 1972, and the family moved to Baberton Mains. His father was then working in the fruit and vegetable wholesale business.By the late 1970s, Hendry's father and a business partner were running three greengrocer's shops, located in Inverkeithing, Dalgety Bay, and Dunfermline. The family moved to a bungalow in Dalgety Bay when Hendry was nine and lived there for the next six years. He attended Inverkeithing High School. He started playing snooker when his parents bought him a miniature snooker table for Christmas in 1981. He subsequently began playing on full-sized tables at Maloco's Snooker Hall and the Classic Snooker Centre in Dunfermline. He made his first century break, a 102, at the Classic Snooker Centre several months after his 13th birthday in 1982.
When Hendry was 15, his parents separated. Due to financial difficulties caused by his father's problem gambling, they had to sell their house and business interests. Hendry's mother moved with her two sons to a council house in her hometown of Kirkliston, and Hendry began attending Queensferry High School. His father moved to a small flat in nearby Broxburn but travelled frequently with Hendry to snooker tournaments around the country. Hendry lived in a flat in South Queensferry during the early part of his professional snooker career.
Career
Amateur years (1982–1985)
Hendry's first tournament win was an under-16 "Stars of the Future" event at a Pontins holiday camp in Prestatyn, Wales. After winning both the Scottish and British Under-16 Championships, he made his first televised appearance in 1983 on Junior Pot Black, where he defeated Nick Pearce but then lost to Steve Ventham in the semi-finals. In 1984, he became the youngest ever winner of the Scottish Amateur Championship. At the 1984 World Amateur Snooker Championship he became the youngest player ever to participate in the championship. He finished sixth-placed in his qualifying group of nine participants, and did not qualify for the final stages,In February 1985, his application for professional status was accepted by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Two months later, he retained the Scottish Amateur Championship. Aged 16 years, he was then the sport's youngest professional. From the age of 14 he was managed by Ron Clover, who also managed darts player Jocky Wilson, but when he was 16 Ian Doyle and Jim Marley took over his management after paying Clover £2,000. Doyle, who was influenced by Barry Hearn's style of management, arranged a series of money matches against leading players for Hendry, mirroring the way that Hearn had arranged matches for Steve Davis before he turned professional.
Early professional years (1985–1989)
In his debut season as a professional, Hendry earnt his first ranking point at the 1986 Classic, eliminating Dessie Sheehan, Graham Miles and Silvino Francisco before losing 4–5 to Neal Foulds. He won the Scottish Professional Championship, becoming the youngest player to win any national professional title. He won four qualifying matches to reach the main stage of the 1986 World Snooker Championship, losing 8–10 to Willie Thorne in the first round. Aged 17 years and 3 months, he was then the youngest player to compete at the final stages of a world championship, a record he held for 26 years until Luca Brecel made his Crucible debut in 2012 aged two months younger.In the 1986–87 season, Hendry and Mike Hallett reached the final of the 1986 World Doubles Championship, which they lost 3–10 to Steve Davis and Tony Meo, Hendry reached his first ranking semi-final at the Classic but lost 3–9 to Steve Davis. He then retained his Scottish Professional Championship title. Having won three qualifying matches to reach the main stage of the 1987 World Championship, he then eliminated Thorne and Steve Longworth to progress to
the quarter-finals. He lost 12–13 to defending champion Joe Johnson, despite coming from 1–8 and 8–12 behind to force a deciding frame.
Hendry defeated Hallett to win the invitational 1987 Australian Masters, and was runner-up to Steve Davis at the 1987 Hong Kong Masters. During the 1987–88 season, Hendry won his first ranking title, beating Taylor 10–7 in the final of the Grand Prix. He and Hallett won the 1987 World Doubles Championship, defeating Dennis Taylor and Cliff Thorburn 12–6 in the final. Hendry captured his second ranking title at the British Open with a 13–2 victory against Hallett in the final. He also won his third consecutive Scottish Professional Championship. By the end of his third professional season, he had reached number four in the world rankings and was named the BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year for 1987. Although he failed to win a ranking title during the 1988–89 season, he won the Masters on his debut, defeating John Parrott 9–6 in the final. He reached his first world semi-final at the 1989 World Championship but lost 9–16 to the eventual champion Davis.
World Champion and World Number One (1989–1999)
The 1989–90 season saw Hendry win four ranking titles and two notable invitational events. He won his first UK Championship, defeating Davis 16–12 in the final; won his second Masters, defeating Parrott 9–4 in the final; and won his first world title at the 1990 World Championship, beating Jimmy White 18–12 in the final. He became the second player to win all three Triple Crown events in the same season, after Davis had first achieved the feat two seasons earlier. Aged 21 years and 106 days, he superseded Alex Higgins as the sport's youngest world champion, a record he still holds as of 2025. He also won ranking titles at the Dubai Classic and Asian Open and became world number one for the first time at the end of the season.In the 1990–91 season, Hendry became the first player to win five ranking titles in a single season. He won his second UK Championship, defeating Davis 16–15 in the final, and his third Masters, defeating Hallett 9–8 in the final after trailing 0–7 and 2–8. However, he failed to retain his world title at the 1991 World Championship; he lost 11–13 to Steve James in the quarter-finals, despite having led 11–9, falling victim to the Crucible curse. In the 1991–92 season, he won his fourth Masters, defeating Parrott 9–4 in the final. He won his second world title at the 1992 World Championship, where he came from 8–14 behind against White in the final to win ten consecutive frames for an 18–14 victory. He achieved his first maximum break in professional competition while playing Thorne in the Matchroom League.
In the 1992–93 season, Hendry won his fifth consecutive Masters, beating James Wattana 9–5 in the final. He won his third world title at the 1993 World Championship, defeating White 18–5 in the final with a session to spare, having lost just 25 frames in the tournament. In the 1993–94 season, he reached the final of the UK Championship but lost 6–10 to 17-year-old Ronnie O'Sullivan, who won his maiden ranking title at the event. Hendry reached a sixth consecutive Masters final but lost 8–9 to his compatriot Alan McManus, his first defeat at the Masters. He won his fourth world title at the 1994 World Championship, clinching an 18–17 victory in the deciding frame of the final after White missed a black off the spot. It was the last time White featured in a World Championship final, having lost all six finals he contested, four of them to Hendry.
In 1994, Hendry was awarded an MBE. In the 1994–95 season, he won his third UK Championship, defeating Ken Doherty 10–5 in the final and setting a new record for the most centuries in a professional match, with seven. This still holds the record for the most centuries in a 19-frame match as well as jointly holding the record for the most centuries in any professional contest. Hendry ended the season by winning the 1995 World Championship, defeating O'Sullivan 13–8 in the quarter-finals, White 16–12 in the semi-finals, and Nigel Bond 18–9 in the final to claim his fifth world title.
In the 1995–96 season, Hendry again won all three Triple Crown events: He defeated Peter Ebdon 10–3 to win his fourth UK Championship, defeated O'Sullivan 10–5 to win his sixth Masters, and defeated Ebdon 18–12 in the 1996 World Championship final to win his sixth world title, equalling the modern-era record held by Ray Reardon and Steve Davis. Hendry remains the only player to win all three Triple Crown events in two different seasons. He was named the BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year for a second time in 1996. In the 1996–97 season, Hendry won his fifth UK Championship, coming from 4–8 behind to defeat John Higgins 10–9 in the final. In the best-of-17 Liverpool Victoria Charity Challenge final, he led O'Sullivan 8–2 but O'Sullivan won six consecutive frames to take the match to a deciding frame. However, Hendry won the decider with a maximum break for a 9–8 victory, making him the only player to make a maximum break in the deciding frame of a final. At the 1997 World Championship, Hendry reached a sixth consecutive world final but lost 12–18 to Doherty, his first defeat in a world final and his first loss at the Crucible since 1991. His 29 consecutive victories at the Crucible over that period remains a record.
Hendry won only one ranking title in the 1997–98 season, despite reaching two of the three Triple Crown finals. He lost the UK Championship final 6–10 to O'Sullivan. In the 1998 Masters final, he led Williams 9–6, needing just one frame for victory. However, Williams took the match to a deciding frame and went on to win on a re-spotted black. At the 1998 World Championship, Hendry lost 4–10 to White in the first round. After eight consecutive seasons as world number one, he fell to second place in the rankings behind the new world champion John Higgins. In the 1998–99 season, he suffered a shock 0–9 whitewash to world number 73 Marcus Campbell in the first round of the UK Championship. It was then the heaviest professional defeat of Hendry's career, surpassing his 1–9 loss to Thorburn in the semi-finals of the 1987 International Open. Afterwards, Hendry stated that his confidence had "drained and drained" and that he would have to go "back to the drawing board" to recover his form. However, at the 1999 World Championship, he defeated O'Sullivan 17–13 in the semi-finals and Williams 18–11 in the final to win his seventh and last world title at age 30. Hendry held the modern-era record of seven world titles outright for the next 23 years, until O'Sullivan equalled it in 2022.