This is why Stephen is the greatest ever in my opinion. Always had the crowd against in 90s and he still handled the pressure at such a young age and win so much
Hendry is defo not the greatest ever. There is no way. He’s not even the second best. Everyone just thinks he is coz of the 7 world championships. If he was the best ever wouldn’t have missed that black in the middle hehehehehe
@@hatesitrick Rubbish! Youngest world champion. 5 WC’s in a row, 5 masters in a row. 29 match winning streak at the crucible and the highest win rate there. Triple crown in 2 different years, only person to do it. Only player to get a 147 in a final frame in a final. Most centuries in a match, only matched recently. 8 years at no.1 amd never out if the top 16. Go back to sleep! 😂
I remember this finals William's was so many frames behind he caught up and Hendry got under pressure it was similar to the Denis Taylor world championship match. I have to say this is the best snooker game I have ever watched. I remember me and my brother screaming when Hendry missed the black, I became a William fan and after this Hendry was never the same after losing to Williams. Thanks for the upload it bought back good memories
No Hendry aged badly. Look at his game and also his physical appearance. After 2000 he was done contrast to Ronnie and also Williams. So sad. Although Ronnie is overall good I believe prime Hendry was the best I have seen(90). He had a extraordinary dominance. But relatively shorter peak (But winning 6 world champion titles consecutively is not bad though). But he faded away so badly. After 2002 he was done though retired in 2012. Such a legend....
That night, I remember switching over to Channel 4, after this match, to watch Richard E Grant star in the romantic drama 'Jack and Sarah'. It's strange, some of the inconsequential shite you remember.
Just came here to watch after Stephen and Mark reminisced about this shot on Stephen's channel. Mark kept saying Stephen twitched, and he sure as heck did NOT twitch. But at the same time, Stephen remembered the black being much further away than it really was. Still a horrible shot to have to try to win the championship on though.
the run of the ball that Dennis got off the final black was unreal, but people forget that he was a good player and had got to the final a few years earlier. Davis should have finished him off earlier in the match but Dennis stayed in there and too his chance. He won the masters against Higgins a few years later in a similar fashion. But yes, I wish he would stop banging on about it.
@Yannick lol! 5 WC’s in a row, 5 masters, youngest WC at 21. Highest win rate at the crucible and longest streak there, 29 matches. Triple crown in 2 different years, only player to do so. 8 years at no.1 and never out of the top 16. Only player to get a 147 in a final frame in a final. You haven’t a clue mate!
Some smashing safety play by Williams in this one. I remember back in 98 everyone was talking about Ronnie becoming the new dominant force in snooker, and then a few months after this tournament Higgins won his first world title and there was a lot of speculation that he was going to be the dominant force. First and foremost I thought that Hendry would be winning world titles into his forties, but barring that, I really thought Mark Williams was going to be the next 6 times world champion.
I loved watching Snooker from 7 years old in 1990 until 00/01. Those Sunday nights(sometimes a Monday)were great, watching the presentation after it, with the crowd roaring. I gravitated towards Hendry, being both Scottish, and he was the first person I seen, lifting the Big One. He obviously went on to Dominate the 90s. Was always gutted when he went out or lost to John Higgins, O'Sullivan or Williams, who were also, my goto, back ups. Hendry's decline from the top saddened me, the illusion of being young and indestructible vanished. The rankings used to mean a lot more back then, and Stephen going from Number 1 absolute, then rotating between 1st and 2nd, then 1st to 3rd, to top 5, top 10 then dropping to top 16 and losing 1st/2nd round matches was hard to watch, and I pretty much stopped watching Snooker as religiously, when Stephens steep decline began. He was still relativly young, so he must have peaked by late 20s, hit a plateau early 30s and then kamikaz'd just as the newer generation came onto the scene, and the game became a bit of a prostitute ... Although, nobody has ever really dominated Snooker again. Ronnie, probably should have.
A nice '85 reminiscence, as one of the protagonists, Dennis Taylor, pointed out. It's almost the same, really. Williams never got in the lead during the final, until this very last black. It also marked the beginning of the end of an era, couldn't agree more, JohnRagoon. There also were similar safety shots, doubles and misses by a fraction. The 'underdog' has won. The only real major difference is that this black was respotted.
this was the only time ive seen hendry's opponent look more focussed and relaxed. Hendry is gulping and looking terrified and williams is smiling and playing with more freedom
The wrong shot i believe was after Hendry potted the green and tried to pot the brown. At that point williams didnt need a snooker. The pot was low % and with Hendrys skill, should have made a snooker from that brown and heap the pressure back onto Williams. This is especially true if you have a small wall of 2 or 3 balls near where you are putting white and can lay a effective snooker with that little wall. hendry would have had the breathing room he needed. I saw a very similar situation with O'Sullivan where he tried a difficult pot where the correct easy shot was to make a snooker and force some points and maybe easier pot out of a fluked position after the reply. I played A grade and this same thing came up when i was ahead and had difficult pot when ahead or easier snooker ect. I always took the pot on and mostly lost that frame when i had the lead. Steve Davis had a code of always taking on the % shot and he rarely got into trouble when ahead and thus was so difficult to beat even against the wiley old guys who did a lot of snookering to force and weaken your game. So always play the best shot that you sure of pulling off not the one you hope to work. If it means holding you fire to wait for better opportunity then fine- remember you are out there to win a frame not to show off your skills. Ego is the hardest thing for a player to overcome.
You were right the first time, Hendry was awarded the trophy to keep after his fifth win in 1993. (He subsequently won the tournament a sixth time in 1996). But the one he was given to keep wasn't the same trophy as the one he and Williams are competing for here. (See the 2-minute mark). The reason *this* one was replaced was, as I said, because the sponsor changed.
I was wondering if Dennis would talk about the 1985 final before I watched the upload, why was I wondering??, it was going to happen, he mentions it whenever there is a tight finish....
He mentions it 200 times a day every day, even in Tescos lol. It's past time for retiring for him, and he's a dire commentator who calls wrong shots galore. He was wrong three times in the same sentence a while back 😃
@@FreddysHamster yes mate he predicts a players shot then they do something different, Dennis Taylor's tombstone will have the words 'Back in 1985 I beat Steve Davis on the black'...
I didn’t appreciate how good Stephen was as a player at the time.. He was without doubt the most successful player the game has ever seen in the modern era.. He for me was one the best middle potters ironically and that miss must have hurt.. Mark was always capable of beating anyone and I mean anyone on their day if he was firing on all cylinders.. Mark is not so dissimilar to Trump, in that their top level is clearly well above their peers... I only wish Stephen could have smiled more, I know it’s not a reflection of how he really felt.. If Stephen had a fault though, it was his inability to reign in the aggressive play on occasion.. To sum Stephen up, he’s the most gifted player that has managed to make the most of their talent and convert it to trophies...
I think probably for sponsorship reasons. The Masters was sponsored by Benson & Hedges until 2003, at which point restrictions on tobacco advertising came into effect, so a new sponsor had to be brought in. The big gold trophy was the old B&H Masters trophy, with B&H engraved into it.
Agreed. For about a year before the record breaking seventh world title in 1999 Stephen had been struggling, suffering defeat after defeat. And his form only picked up again in the last few months before the World Championship. It is a shame that Stephen Hendry his domination declined and the fact that he has been retired for seven years. The one and only King of the Crucible Theatre- Stephen Gordon Hendry. His greatest moments for me are: seven century breaks in the 1994 UK Championship final against Ken Doherty winning 10-5. Beating Jimmy White 18-14 from 8-14 down in 1992 along with thrashing him the following year 18-5. 1994 was great because he won his fourth world title with a broken elbow from the second round onwards. His 147 break against Ronnie O’Sullivan in 1997 Liverpool Victoria Charity Challenge final deciding frame. If one break epitomised the kind of player Stephen Hendry was I would argue the opening frame of 1993 World Championship final- 136 from his very first visit to the table.
Just watching this is giving me anxiety remembering being in these positions. Minor money or tourney on the line so I can't imagine what it is like with 70k pounds on the line! Ugh.
It's been a very long time since I last watched this frame. I've just stopped the video at 03:53 to say, how the fuck did Stephen lose it from here. He's just fluked the yellow in, he's got a really easy green, he's 19 points in front.. Seriously. It's like he didn't want to win this one.
Unfortunately not, as far as I know - and neither is there an alternative angle on Williams' winning black. It's the only drawback of this footage, I've always thought. Up until about 10 or 15 years ago they never used to bother showing action replays in snooker coverage either, for some reason; so the camera angle you were shown on the live shot was pretty much all you got.
Along with the 2002 world final, this is the other final that sticks out like a sore thumb for Hendry, and this was the first time he’d lost a final when he’d been in control most of the way, never looked like losing, took a 9 6 lead and lost it and his form dipped badly not long after this, he actually potted some tremendous shots in this decider but should have played safe off the brown and been patient but the black wasn’t a gimme it was straight as a dye off the cushion and I suppose Williams was fortunate that the cue ball finished on the cushion, if Hendry could have got his hand on the table he would have just stunned the black in instead of having to play the slow drag across the nap but he should have won it in the previous frames.
