Stephen Hendry ‘can’t believe’ tactic he has seen from current top players
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Stephen Hendry cannot get his head around what he sees as negative play from some of snooker’s top players, saying: ‘Maybe I’m a dinosaur but I used to think snooker was about potting balls.’. The seven-time world champion was known for his all-out-attack approach and it brought him immense success through the 1990s, a period of dominance for the Scot.
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The 55-year-old is outspoken on his lack of enthusiasm for safety play and he feels that top players are refusing too many pots in the modern game. Even the swashbuckling Judd Trump came in for questioning from Hendry on his way to winning the UK Championship this season.
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Speaking on his CueTips channel, Hendry said: ‘At the UK Championship even Judd Trump, it’s no-risk snooker now. Even if I didn’t fancy a pot I’d still go for it, now if you don’t fancy it you refuse it. ‘I can’t believe how negative some of the top players have started playing. Judd played position on the blue, potted the brown, played position for it then refused it, which I couldn’t believe.’.
Hendry is also irked by how long some players are taking on shots, picking out Neil Robertson and Mark Allen as too sluggish for his tastes, and saying they are hampering themselves with their pace of play. ‘Neil Robertson playing zero -risk snooker, playing at 28-29 seconds a shot when his best is 22-23,’ he said. ‘When it’s an obvious shot and they still walk round the table, look at everything before getting down and playing a shot when they knew what shot they were going to play. Mark Allen does it a bit as well.
