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What Did You Make Of Stephen Hendry in Qualifiers?

Postby Particle Man

What Did You Make Of Stephen Hendry in Qualifiers?

I though there were some good signs but when Xu Si ran into some form he mentally collapsed.


I think the main area he has to work on is the mental side of the game. That fragility is why there were flashes of brilliance but when he was put under pressure he crumbled.

Re: What Did You Make Of Stephen Hendry in Qualifiers?

Postby Holden Chinaski

He was very rusty. Long potting doesn't seem to be there at all. He did show some good signs, especially around the black spot, but he's far away from beating a top 16 player. Any shot that needs some power seems to be trouble for him. On the bright side, his safety game wasn't that bad.

Re: What Did You Make Of Stephen Hendry in Qualifiers?

Postby Prop

Yeah pretty much what SF and Holden said. When he knocked in that century against Selt in the Gibraltar I thought for a second we were going to see a genuinely competitive standard from him. Obviously Selt played like a man possessed so we’ll never really know if Hendry would have remained in that groove for the rest of the match against a player that didn’t play to the standard Selt did.

As for the qualies, well I think we saw a true picture of where he’s at. Very rusty. He did hint in interview after the Xu match that he knows he needs more real match practice to become competitive in the likes of World qualies, so that suggests he’s going to enter more tournaments next season. He knows there is no short cut.

Re: What Did You Make Of Stephen Hendry in Qualifiers?

Postby SnookerEd25

Ina nutshell, we got pretty much what I expected. The Jimmy match was always unlikely to live up to the hype and having pinched the first off Xu, and started reasonably well in the second, I was hoping he would at least be competitive. But Xu stealing the second seemed to deflate him and he got progressively worse afterward.

It does drive home to me that he retired too early though. I do think if he’d continued after 2012, he might have had a nice long run in a tournament after that, maybe even won one and that would have been a better swan song than what we are seeing now.

Re: What Did You Make Of Stephen Hendry in Qualifiers?

Postby Dan-cat

Prop wrote:Yeah pretty much what SF and Holden said. When he knocked in that century against Selt in the Gibraltar I thought for a second we were going to see a genuinely competitive standard from him. Obviously Selt played like a man possessed so we’ll never really know if Hendry would have remained in that groove for the rest of the match against a player that didn’t play to the standard Selt did.

As for the qualies, well I think we saw a true picture of where he’s at. Very rusty. He did hint in interview after the Xu match that he knows he needs more real match practice to become competitive in the likes of World qualies, so that suggests he’s going to enter more tournaments next season. He knows there is no short cut.


But being cynical how will that pan out... a succession of best of sevens where he loses first or second round? Hardly going to give him much exposure or match time.

Re: What Did You Make Of Stephen Hendry in Qualifiers?

Postby SnookerFan

SnookerEd25 wrote:Ina nutshell, we got pretty much what I expected. The Jimmy match was always unlikely to live up to the hype and having pinched the first off Xu, and started reasonably well in the second, I was hoping he would at least be competitive. But Xu stealing the second seemed to deflate him and he got progressively worse afterward.


Pretty much this.

Hendry vs Jimmy felt like a bit of an occasion, but at the same time it was never going to be a good match. It was a guy who had played one proper match in nine years playing somebody who was a has-been years ago.

The Xu match promised much early, but then became obvious there was only one winner.

I'm not really sure the point of what Hendry's comeback was, to be fair. It's been good to see him, he was always somebody I tried to get tickets to before he retired. But he was playing a standard that was beneath what he expected when he retired. There was never any real hope he'd do anything that good, apart from maybe win the odd match or two.

Re: What Did You Make Of Stephen Hendry in Qualifiers?

Postby Juddernaut88

Pretty much agree with what everyone has said, Hendry long game was off, he did sometimes pot some good ones, his positional play did let him down and he missed a lot of balls which you would expect him to get.
I feel he should have played in most of the earlier tournaments for match sharpness and I hope he will do that next season!

Re: What Did You Make Of Stephen Hendry in Qualifiers?

Postby Prop

Dan-cat wrote:
Prop wrote:Yeah pretty much what SF and Holden said. When he knocked in that century against Selt in the Gibraltar I thought for a second we were going to see a genuinely competitive standard from him. Obviously Selt played like a man possessed so we’ll never really know if Hendry would have remained in that groove for the rest of the match against a player that didn’t play to the standard Selt did.

As for the qualies, well I think we saw a true picture of where he’s at. Very rusty. He did hint in interview after the Xu match that he knows he needs more real match practice to become competitive in the likes of World qualies, so that suggests he’s going to enter more tournaments next season. He knows there is no short cut.


But being cynical how will that pan out... a succession of best of sevens where he loses first or second round? Hardly going to give him much exposure or match time.


Oh yeah, I don’t disagree one bit. Like I said, there is no short cut. I guess if regular defeats next season in some way battle-harden him, then great. But I know what you mean - Hendry was/is a player that thrives on dominance, and put simply, winning.

Re: What Did You Make Of Stephen Hendry in Qualifiers?

Postby HappyCamper

Iranu wrote:He should definitely enter the CL next season. Only way to guarantee match practice of more than 1 bad performance a week.


He'll be too low in the rankings to get an invite probably.

Re: What Did You Make Of Stephen Hendry in Qualifiers?

Postby SnookerFan

Iranu wrote:He should definitely enter the CL next season. Only way to guarantee match practice of more than 1 bad performance a week.


Actually, that's not a bad idea.

Though, I'd be surprised if he bothered. He some more fussed about entering marquee events. I don't see him entering The Championshit League, to be honest.

Seems silly to me. If you're expecting to do well a tournaments, there's not a lot of point just entering when you feel like it. He's been off for nine years, he'll need match practice badly. Hendry isn't the sort to do what Steve Davis did in the latter stage of his career, just entering because he enjoys competing. He wants to win.

Re: What Did You Make Of Stephen Hendry in Qualifiers?

Postby eraserhead

Thought his long potting showed good signs. With his safety and the amount he was missing after he got in, he'll get taken apart by any decent player. Probably needs to enter everything he can for a full season and see what happens. Don't think he'll be interested in doing that.

Re: What Did You Make Of Stephen Hendry in Qualifiers?

Postby Wildey

The frailties he had when he retired still there

he used to play quite well something went wrong he lost all composure and flopped that was definitely there against xu si

Re: What Did You Make Of Stephen Hendry in Qualifiers?

Postby Iranu

Wildey wrote:The frailties he had when he retired still there

he used to play quite well something went wrong he lost all composure and flopped that was definitely there against xu si

Bit more forgivable now than when he retired, though, I’d say.

Re: What Did You Make Of Stephen Hendry in Qualifiers?

Postby SnookerFan

Wildey wrote:The frailties he had when he retired still there

he used to play quite well something went wrong he lost all composure and flopped that was definitely there against xu si


Were we ever really expecting them to have gone though?

He admits himself that he was playing at a standard that was lower than what he expected of himself. How is taking nine years off meant to improve that?

Re: What Did You Make Of Stephen Hendry in Qualifiers?

Postby Sickpotter

Holden Chinaski wrote:He was very rusty. Long potting doesn't seem to be there at all. He did show some good signs, especially around the black spot, but he's far away from beating a top 16 player. Any shot that needs some power seems to be trouble for him. On the bright side, his safety game wasn't that bad.


Love that Stephen found some amusement in his safety game being the strong part of his performance....first time ever :chuckle:

Re: What Did You Make Of Stephen Hendry in Qualifiers?

Postby Andre147

SnookerEd25 wrote:Ina nutshell, we got pretty much what I expected. The Jimmy match was always unlikely to live up to the hype and having pinched the first off Xu, and started reasonably well in the second, I was hoping he would at least be competitive. But Xu stealing the second seemed to deflate him and he got progressively worse afterward.

It does drive home to me that he retired too early though. I do think if he’d continued after 2012, he might have had a nice long run in a tournament after that, maybe even won one and that would have been a better swan song than what we are seeing now.


I do agree with this. A player like Hendry, who only gets satisfaction from the game by winning, I think it wouls have been the ideal goodbye for him by winning a tournament.

Obviously he isn't good enough anymore to win one, so my best guess is he wants to retire by making the Crucible one final time. But he needs to improve massively next season for that to happen.

Re: What Did You Make Of Stephen Hendry in Qualifiers?

Postby mantorok

I think he was put back in for headlines more than anything, I don't really sense he's been working his bottom off to make this happen.

However saying that there were some inspired bits and pieces but just like we see in Jimmy, consistency is like gold dust.

Re: What Did You Make Of Stephen Hendry in Qualifiers?

Postby SnookerFan

mantorok wrote:I think he was put back in for headlines more than anything, I don't really sense he's been working his bottom off to make this happen.

However saying that there were some inspired bits and pieces but just like we see in Jimmy, consistency is like gold dust.


Enjoying the lack of swear filter, sir?

Re: What Did You Make Of Stephen Hendry in Qualifiers?

Postby hendry_fan

Against Jimmy,he played ok,although,he did get plenty of chances.


The highlights of the match was the 66 clearence he made in the 6th frame after Jimmy made a 58.

Where he won the third frame despite having needed a snooker with only pink and black on the table.

That he made three 50+ breaks.

And that his safety play was actualy mostly decent/good.




His match against Xu Si.

It was a chip n egg perfomance in every dept of the game!!!!!!.


It could,ve turned out diffrent if he,d of won the 2nd frame,but after he broke down on 49,it turned out to be a BIG turning point,he let Si off the hook.


Fair play to Si though,as he kept his foot on the pedal and did,nt crumble.In the last 5 frames,Si threw FIVE 50+ breaks at him.



Stephen definatley should play in much more events next season,needs far more match sharpness.

The Dumpling only buckin played in 2 tourneys this Season!,he only played 3 matches!!!,GET THE BUCKIN CUE OUT STEPHEN!!!!.