Stephen Hendry 'can't believe' tactic he has seen from current top players
01/05/2025 11:29 AM
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.
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.
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.
‘There was a time in the UK Championship when snooker wasn’t fun to watch, for me.
‘I don’t like watching snooker where people know the shot and are walking around. Maybe I’m a dinosaur but I used to think snooker was about potting balls.
‘I’ve spoken to Neil Robertson about it on text. He told me the reasons why he was doing it, which is fair enough. But I said to him he’s a far better player when he’s not.’
Robertson has spoken about his pace of play this season, saying it is not intentional and has been reminded by coach Joe Perry to snap out of it.
'I'm definitely not slower on purpose. It's always a hindrance to anyone's game,' he said in November. 'Maybe there's one or two players who play slow on purpose, but me, definitely not.
'Joe [Perry] gave me a bit of a grilling when I was on a blue in the last frame [against Judd Trump at the Champion of Champions] and I was trying too hard to get perfect on the next red and I took -like a minute-and-a-half over a shot. It's crazy to spend that much time on a shot, it's way too long.
'That's why I think it would help with a timer. Not a shot clock that beeps, but something you can see. If it went to 30 seconds and the ref told you it's been 30 seconds then I'd have just dropped the blue in.’
