Stephen Hendry decides not to quit snooker: World Snooker Championship 2011
A record seven-time World Champion, Stephen Hendry finally decided that he will continue playing snooker and has no intention of quitting from the sport yet. The player affirmed he will not be picky
about the events and is going to participate in all snooker competitions.
The veteran has enjoyed a 26-year splendid professional career in the sport and still has the spark to unsettle any player in the world. Fortunately, he is still in the top-16 of the world, which
means he will not have to qualify for the upcoming major ranking events of the next season.
It’s hard for a player like Hendy, who has won more major titles than any player, to swallow the retirement medicine that easy after such a tremendous career. Moreover, if he falls out of the Last-16
for the first time in his career, he will need to go to the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield to play the qualifiers.
“I’m going to play on, staying in the (top) 16 was a big decision,” he said. “I’m going to keep playing, I still love playing. If I’m going to play I’m going to have to give it 100%, which means I’m
going to have to play in all of the tournaments that I don’t like. There’s no point doing it half-hearted. I thought I was going to give it up, but I want to carry on.”
The 42-year-old considered retirement after he was nudged down by the Englishman Mark Selby at World Snooker Championship 2011, but despite his defeat in the match, he stayed in the top 16.
“I might still have played had I finished outside the 16, after talking to Mandy (Hendry’s wife) at home. I haven’t given up hope of getting my belief back. Now I’ve made the decision I am quite excited.
I must go down to the events with a different mindset to last year, where I was looking not to enjoy them,” he added.
The Scotsman holds 36 ranking titles, including all major ones like the World Snooker Championship and the UK Championship. He grabbed the last ranking title in 2005 when he clinched the Malta Cup
and his last crucible triumph came in 1999 after he defeated Mark Williams by 18-11 in the final.
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