Stephen Hendry on his own battlefield
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| Dreamy Scotland-the home of the World Open |
Since the World Open tournament is just around the corner, the snooker players are assuring their fans that they are doing the best they can to have a good run. Today’s case - Stephen Hendry. A month ago, the Scot was saying that he is very excited with the new tournament (WO) and he feels pretty optimistic in winning it. And like a bonus, the tournament is held in his beautiful and everlasting green country, Scotland. Sure, there are other Scots on the run for World Open’s trophy, but from the seven-times world champion the expectations are always higher. :)
In a recent interview for the 110sport.tv`s supporting web-site, Hendry declared that he doesn’t feel pressured to rehabilitate "the long lost" reputation of snooker, due to the latest scandal involving the still - number 1, John Higgins. The only problem that remains is that Hendy wasn’t at his best lately; still he doesn’t feel pressured more than he used to be in this matter. Pragmatism a la Hendry! :))
Still, he said: “I haven’t won a match and that obviously needs to change. I was disappointed to lose to Martin Gould at the Shanghai Masters – my aim was to start the season with a win and I wasn’t able to do that.”
Regarding the new raking system, implemented by Barry Hearn, the Scot has something to object: "I am not moaning because I am down there just now – I just don’t think its right that it isn’t based over a whole season and a lot of players have worked very hard to get into the top 16 in the first place. Over the season each of these players will hit a run of form but if they have a bad patch at the start of the season they could be in trouble. Another bad run and I could find myself missing out on The Masters at Wembley it is a very punishing system."
That shouldn’t come as a shock, for Stephen wasn’t among the players who supported Barry Hearn as World Snooker chairman (instead he supported John Davison), so he definitely won’t have any affinities with the "new order of the game".
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| Stephen Hendry at the Malta Cup 2005 |
In the meantime, Hendry needs a victory and he needs it quickly...if not, at least a nice place in the quarter-finales or the semi-finals. It’s been a long time since he won an important ranking title (if I’m not wrong the last one was the Malta Cup from 2005) and the fact that he only participated in two of the PTCs series (PTC 4 and EPTC1) didn’t help him much. The battle is given on those crazy ranking points and those points are won by taking part in these events, no matter if they are major or minor events. Peter Ebdon admitted the importance of these "little" tournaments and maybe Hendry should do that too. He is by far one of the most exceptional snooker players in the world, too exceptional to give up his place in the top 16 because he doesn’t quite agree with the new ranking system.
You can read the whole article given by Hendry, here.
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