Time passes and it's unfortunately easy to forget what an absolute machine peak Hendry was. Love his style of play - just effortlessness, precision and grace.
Thats the thing i cant understand, they always say ronnie is a genius but Steven Hendry in his prime was snooker God, literally he beat nearly every player on the circuit for fun on a daily basis. I like ronnie but my all time favourite and a lifetime fan will alway...ALWAYS be Steven Hendry
This is probably the best 147 in the circumstances it was made in, a deciding frame of a final when you’ve lost six frames in a row to then produce this tells you how good Hendry was, the best player there’s ever been under pressure and I still think the greatest champion there’s ever been. This was the high watermark moment of his career where it got as good as it gets in terms of his game albeit his greatest moment in a tournament sense would be two years later when he won his seventh world title.
To clawed back from 6 frames in front and then get a maximum in the decider, just unbelievable, the mental strength he had at his peak surpasses anyone else. The greatest
Mentally, he was the greatest. If you put peak Hendry's mentality into peak O'Sullivan's playing ability, I doubt the resultant gestalt ever loses a match.
@@babyfood9537 The cue he bought second hand for a few pounds when he was a teenager and he won all his world championships with, it was snapped in two while on an aeroplane, he was devastated and wasn’t the same with any other cues. It is well documented about the condition known as the yips in Snooker, it’s a nervous condition that affects some players just as they are going to strike the ball, you can Google it if you want to find out more. Bottom line is that he would have won many more titles if these unfortunate events never happened.
@@jimso771 He would have won more if more were available. There were only about 7/8 per year then, now there are about about 15 per season. He would have won 50 no problem.
@Moss chino Boss It's the truth O'Sullivan is no good cold coming off his chair and can't make the long pot. Hendry never had either of these two faults.
Was it broadcast live? I remember the highlights of this tournament being shown on ITV. I didn't know it was broadcast live. Where did you find it live? Or do you mean you were there?
@@futurez12 It probably was highlights sorry, it was shown very late in the evening I recall, possibly after midnight. I guess what I meant is i remember watching this first broadcast.
@@jamesluby6705 it is, but Stephen never refused a shot...most attacking player i have ever seen, and he had the minerals too..Stephen at his best against Ronnie, with the pressure that goes with it, Stephen every time...Ive won bundles backing Hendry..
Hendry had such control. So cool. 8--2 in front then 8--8 then he wins match with maximum break. add to this when 14 ---8 down to my fav player jimmy white in 1992 world final and winning ten frames in a row to lift title. hendry for me is the greatest ever....imho
Todays lot are a joke.. Ronnie plays at 50% of his best and still gets to finals.. It's also the reason that the class of 92 are still around.. *Trump.. smashes a red in the top left.. comes of 15 cushions and then misses the colour of the spot.. ** Change the name and aply to anyone from todays game and take off 10 cushions.. lol
Sorry to be so off topic but does someone know of a trick to log back into an instagram account..? I was dumb lost the login password. I would love any tips you can offer me!
Oh the composure in a cracking finale. He can’t be human to play such a cool game of snooker and especially when you have lost the last 6 frames to an upcoming legend. In my opinion, they both are legends and have quenched our thirst for game games of snooker over a considerable period of times. Love them both as players and personalities
Once ronnie said that hendry is the greatest player of the world.these priceless words from the legend is more than the any kind of title for any player.
I have a feeling that Stephen Hendry is the only person in the complete history of Ronnie O'sullivans televised matches that has made a 147 against him. If I'm wrong, and someone else has done so, I would love to see it.
I loved watching Hendry play. The most attacking player of all time and very fluent when on a roll. For me this is the best match up of all time like a Federer Versus Nadal in Tennis. Just two players who bring the best out of each other and arguably the number on and two to ever play the game.
Sick and tired of people saying it was an easy era. Ronnie was a beast in the 90s, actually a better breakbuilder back then. His safety was not as strong thats all
Scoring 147 is like slightly bullying or teasing your opponent... and no other player on this planet has the guts to do this to Ronnie other than Stephen. This match was like clash of the Titans!
@@spanishpeaches2930 Not in the 90's he didn't! Only when Hendrys career was in decline did O Sullivan start to regularly beat him. It also took Ronnie 30 years to win 7 WC's, what Hendry did it in 10.
@@johnmc3862 Wrong again. I've been through all the head to head stats and there was only an 18 month period..around 96 when the h2h was really in favour of Hendry. It has been well documented that after his dad was jailed..and his mum to for tax evasion, that he went off the rails and took too many drugs and partied all the time. Ronnie had mental issues even up to 2010 before he got sorted out. Hendry's star shone very brightly for a decade indeed..but burned out fast.The opposition was not as good as it is now.
@TwizZtiN Way better lol ? O sullivan is a way ahead , he beat Stephen hendry 25 -16 which is a clear advantage. 1990s was a weak era and thats why Hendry won 7 titles. So why did stephen hendry play 4 times against jimmy white in final ? Well there is one explanation, the rest where basically shit. For example who did stephen hendry beat in 1992 to reach the final ? Well , he beat stephen murphy(never heard so i assume he was a total fish),James wattana, Dean O'kane (never heard so I assume he was a total fish also),Terry griffits(16-4, a total fish in that time) and then poor Jimmy white who gifted the match away after having lead 14-8.
@TwizZtiN Your comments show how much you really know about snooker, no point to continue this conversation. Ofc I understand that it is really difficult to admit that your wonderboy is nothing compared o sullivan
Well. I knew he was pretty good in his prime years Hendry but i didnt know he was THAT good. bloody hell. Now i know why he may be the greatest of all time. His snooker knowledge is also immense. Even as a commentator today, he sees shots no other commentator sees in the modern game. GOAT but Osullivan is a close second.
Watch the hendry v doherty 1994 uk final. Its on youtube, hendry makes 7 centuries in 10 frames. Its probably the highest standard of snooker ever played in a best of 19 match.
I have watched Stephen since childhood and he is a true legend and has his own class. Had also seen jimmy white and Steve Davis but only started seeing Sullivan at least a decade ago. No doubt on Sullivan's talent but Stephen was simply unmatchable. Both are respectful and no offense. Its hard to compare. Stephen looked innocent but as far as game plan is concerned, truly smart
Both are legends. When I started watching snooker over 25 years ago Hendry was already a superstart. So I have a bit of a soft spot for him. But it’s hard to say who’s the better player. Maybe we don’t have to choose and we can just enjoy what these guys show us.
That will never happen again. Winning a deciding frame in a final with a 147. Unbelievable. When you put the 2 best players of all time together you usually get something special.
Actually it has happened again... Ronnie won the 2014 Welsh Open by making a 147 in the final against Ding. And Mark Davis against John Higgins in the 2017 Championship League Group D final. Plus there were about 15 maximums in deciders on stages other than finals(which is also cool)
@@elrondsch not sure thats the same, ronnie was 8-3 up against ding when he made that 147. It was the deciding frame for ronnie but not ding. In this case it was 8-8 and it was a one frame shoot out.
I honestly don’t think anyone can appreciate how hard it is to do this sporting achievement unless you have played snooker , people assume it’s not that hard but for me it’s the greatest thing you can do in sport
I'm an absolute staunch Hendry fan. Have been my whole life. He was my hero growing up in the 90's. I hated Ronnie for so many years because he was Hendry's greatest advisory. Then during covid I stumbled upon those RU-vid videos between the two of them and realised not only were they no longer advisories but they were were now good friends with nothing but genuine respect and admiration for one another!! I can now objectively say that yes its hard to deny that Ronnie is the GOAT. Personally they're both the GOAT in totally different ways and it all comes down to definition!!! My arguments supporting Hendry are..... Nobody has utterly dominated the sport to the same level he did!! 7 world titles in a 9 year period!!! 5 CONSECUTIVE WORLD TITLES!!!! 5 consecutive Masters titles!!! Youngest ever world champion at 21, 5 consecutive ranking titles/ 36 consecutive match wins in ranking events!! 8 consecutive years at world no.1 ( 9 in total during caree ).... 29 consecutive winning run at the crucible!!! 11 maximum 147's ( eventually surpassed by Ronnie and Higgins ) 2nd most ranking titles and triple crowns, joint record holder of most ever world titles ( 7 )! Over 700 century breaks ( top 5 i think? ) He achieved all of this in a career span about half the length of Ronnie's!!! Most of his records were set in a 10 -12 year playing career where there were literally half as many ranking events in a season compared to these days!!! The claim that he had no real competition to contend with is pish considering he de throwned Davis, beat Jimmy White in 4 of the world titles and the class of 92 arrived early on in his dominance!! For context regarding the argument stating that the current generation of players are all of a higher general standard than before.....21 of the last 33 world titles belong to Hendry, Ronnie, Higgins and Williams!!! There will simply never be another player like Hendry or Ronnie for that matter. They'll probably hold every record that matters between them for ever!
GOAT is nonsense, because every generation leans from the older players. There's no Hendry and O'Sulivan without Joe Davis, Ray Reardon, Alex Higgins, Jimmy White etc. All you can be is the best in your era, they have both achieved that.
Hendry says he wasn't under much pressure in his opinion. That's the thing he never felt pressure. Most other players would of been feeling it big time
Both of these players are legends, brilliant! Can't compare the two!! They are great and awesome to watch irrespective of who they play on the day. Wish they played each other more often. Great appreciation and admiration for their skill and class. Both are equal Giants of the world of snooker. Best wishes to both. Chris Kloppers, from South Africa.
While there is no doubt who the most talented player off all time is, Hendry is by far the greatest ever, Stephen was just a cold heartless killing machine he hated socializing with his fellow pro's interesting Rex Williams on comentary there, who's signature should Hendry have on his cue? you guessed it Rex himself little bit of trivia there, the 147's in this era were done when it actually meant something with just 6 tournaments a season compared to 25+ today, and how slow was that table compared to the Star tables used today. Interesting Hendry never had the white cleaned once.
The only blemish to this remarkable break is the fact that this is an invitational. If this had been a ranking tournament, with Hendry needing one frame to win it, with this being the deciding frame, with Ronnie winning 6 frames on the trot, and the crowd getting more boisterous with their support of Ronnie with each frame he clawed back, and with the fact there was a bunch of difficult shots, then I think it would be the greatest break of all time. That was quite a sentence. Alas, this was only an invitational, but it's still a remarkable beautiful break, and my personal favourite 147.
I think what takes this to another level is that Stephen was the best player at that time, losing from 8-2 up against Ronnie, would've been devastating, as he hated losing so much. He knew what happened to Steve Davis after he lost his dominance of the game, and losing here to Ronnie, might've been the end for Stephen, but he did this, and kept getting the better of Ronnie for a few more years.
It's hard to say who is better. I started watching and playing snooker when Hendry was in his prime. He will always be my favourite player but Ronnie is great to watch and a real magician with the cue.
One of the best matches I have ever seen, 7 centuries between the two of them and a 147,a truly touched by the hand of god snooker match. Afterward I bet both players must have realised that they surpassed what everyone thought was the ceiling in Snooker excellence and achievement. There's only 4 other events in snooker history that rival this one: Alex Higgins 69 break v J white WSC semi F 1982 - Cliff Thornburn first televised 147 WSC 1983 - Ronnie O'Sullivan fastest ever 147 WSC 1997 - Dennis Taylor/Steve Davis Black ball final WSC 1985- In my opinion the Liverpool Victoria match stands on it's own mainly because it was a whole match,, wether it deserves to be number 1 of the 5 well I'll keep that too myself, too hard to choose,
Dave Shields remember watching this at the time. would i be correct in thinking this was around xmas time. it sticks in my memory but thinking about it aeems such an unlikely time
Dave Shields I think Steve Davis made the first televised 147 Cliff Thornburn was the 1st to do it at the Crucible. But people compare modern snooker with old but forget about the Great matches and standard. It's strange but there's been some really high standard snooker over the Decades and he's only when you revisit the Old matches you realise how good some of the standard was. And you re watch the Alex Higgins and Jimmy White match and see them playing at the highest standard... O'Sullivan and Hendry had a few high standard games I watched about 3 matches between the two at this standard before O'Sullivan became the champion.
everyone keeps comparing the two players which is wrong...both are great players that play/ed at an amazing level during their careers and they both deserve total respect
In their prime and let's be honest, Ronnie is also past it, they had a very similar attacking game. Hendry had a huge influence on the development of young O' Sullivan. But that is were the comparisons must stop. Hendry did it all in just over a decade and knocked in 500 centuries in the 90's in an era were players had to work harder to get the desired result out of the cue ball. After almost 3 decades in the game. Ronnie is still not on level terms with his ranking and world championship titles. it was only after Hendry lost his hunger, that O' Sullivan started to get the better of him. They certainly are both two great players but when it comes to making comparisons, there is only one player to compare Hendry with and that is in terms of being a winning machine also above Ronnie; The nugget, mister Steve Davis.
@@johnahh5130 Ronnie was old enough to win titles in the mid to late nineties but he wasn’t good enough to beat Stephen, Stephen was the youngest ever winner of the World championship and he won it 5 times on the bounce, a record that will never be broken 😊
Amazing stuff…..in his pomp in those days, remember them well and doubt we’ll see his like or Ronnie’s again! Bottle, courage, skill and never say die attitude was why he was so feared back in the day!
In general I agree but has Ronnie ever fluffed his lines quite as badly as Davis vs Taylor in 85 wc final or Hendry vs Williams in 98 Masters final? The latter especially is a shot you'd have bet your mortgage on Hendry potting!
I don't hesitate. Hendry in his prime was the ultimate winning machine. Ronnie will never be that. After almost 3 decades he is still behind in ranking titles that Hendry collected in just over a decade during a time there were less rankings. The man knocked in 500 centuries during the 90's. No competition. Hendry in his prime would outbox Ronnie in 95% of the cases.
We are all lucky to witness these two in our time , both are masters in their own right , Titans , I wish they were the same age , would've seen more of this , and that's what counts imo
