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The Big Interview: Stephen Hendry
Snooker legend: Stephen Hendry at his new club in Preston
07 November 2009
By Tony Dewhurst

Stephen Hendry is sitting in a Preston snooker club, talking about a legendary encounter from way back in the murkier days of his sport.

"Bill Werbeniuk against an old Scottish pro called Eddie Sinclair, that was the match of the century," he said.

"Werbeniuk won 43 to 42. That's pints by the way.

"It went on all day, the drinking finished when Sinclair was on his back, unconscious.

"At that point Werbeniuk gives it,'I'm away for a proper drink'."

In many ways it was the clean-cut, fresh-faced young Scot who transformed the face of snooker, dragging the game out of the smoke-filled clubs and on to national television.

For a decade snooker's iceman was unbeatable, so far ahead of his field everyone else needed binoculars to catch sight of him.

"When people talk about how snooker has changed from the days of Pot Black, they say it was me who began that revolution but it was Steve Davis who really started the ball rolling in terms of the dedication and hard graft required to get to the top," said Hendry.

"Steve had that amazing work ethic – that incredible drive to succeed.

"He changed snooker more than anyone and I followed in his foot steps.

"I've tremendous respect for Steve.

"He is a good person, snooker's greatest ambassador.

"In terms of the talent and the quality of players the standard has never been higher.

"The players in the 1980s – even the early 1990s – wouldn't live with the guys today.

"The standard is astonishing and the game has evolved in the respect that it is a more attacking sport than it used to be.

"The basic principles are still the same, but it is a far more
aggressive game.

"It is still popular, but we'll never get back to the days when 18 million people tuned in to watch Dennis Taylor play Steve Davis in the 1985 World Championship final."

Take a glance at Hendry's achievements in the game and it takes your breath away.

He was snooker's young upstart when he beat Jimmy White to win his first world title in 1990, and before the end of that decade he had collected another six world crowns and topped the rankings list for eight consecutive years.

The records go on and on...36 rankings titles, more than £8.5m in prize money, 700 centuries and nine competitive 147s.

"The 1990s were amazing times, to be world champion for eight years and to win seven world titles was a wonderfully fulfilling experience," he added.

"It was more than I ever would have dreamed of achieving in snooker.

"Winning my seventh world title was always the best thing I ever achieved.

"Steve Davis had won six world titles, a modern-day record that seemed unbeatable at the time, so to break that was special.

"More than that, to pass Steve's record, a man who I still hold in the highest