In our exclusive five-part series, one of snooker's - and sport's - greatest ever competitors discusses what it is he loves about being the best
With a record 36 ranking titles – including seven World Championships – Stephen Hendry is snooker’s greatest winner.
In the last of our exclusive five-part series – which has run throughout the Betway UK Championship – Hendry ponders retirement, life after snooker and whether he will ever play competitively again.
The man who was world No. 1 for eight successive years also explains, in an accompanying video, why defeats are more memorable than victories and why he did not triumph at the Crucible after the age of 30.
Retirement
SH: I certainly miss snooker, especially on Sunday nights because that’s when you get the cheque and the trophy.
I miss being the best and I miss winning. That’s the main reason why I had to retire.
For me, the enjoyment of playing sport is winning.
If you take that away from me, then you’re taking away the majority of what fires me in the first place.
I’ve had many conversations with Steve Davis about why he keeps playing.
He says he treats it as a day out now. I was never able to do that.
It hurt too much to lose to someone I knew I shouldn’t lose to and it hurt too much to play the standard of snooker I was playing.
Jimmy still plays competitively and I admire him for going out there and putting the hours in.
He’s never going to win the World Championship, but he still goes out there and plays.
It’s a hard decision to make. Snooker’s been my life and I still love playing.
Life after snooker
SH: Nothing will replace that feeling of being the best.
That feeling of picking up the trophy on a Sunday night? Nothing will replace that for me now.
That’s the hard thing and why so many sportspeople keep playing on and on.
I could’ve kept playing to a lower standard and maybe got to quarter and semi-finals, but I wasn’t playing good enough to win.
I think if I was prepared to put in five or six hours a day and really do it properly, I think I could possibly still win the odd tournament.
But the more you play, the more you gather scars. You’re not invincible on the inside.
Forever competitive and… comeback?
SH: I still enjoy picking up a cue, but I don’t enjoy missing shots. I’ll always be hyper-critical of myself.
I still get down on myself when I play in an exhibition and I don’t play well. I’m probably still too hard on myself in that respect.
Maybe one day to play in something would be nice, but I don’t know if that’ll ever happen.
A lot of things would have to be right in my life for that to happen.
When Michael Schumacher returned to Formula One, that hurt me to watch.
Possibly he knew he wouldn’t be in a good enough car to win, but for someone who was dominant to do that, I didn’t like to see it.
Tiger Woods looks like he’ll never win another major and to watch him is painful.
That’s what I think watching me in the last two or three years of playing was like.
Less dominant, more popular
SH: I could definitely sense a softening in people’s attitudes towards me towards the end of my career.
It’s a strange thing in British sport. I’m sure there would be a lot of support if I came back.
If you could go straight in at the World Championship, then I’d definitely consider it.
But the fact you’ve got to play three rounds in some leisure centre, that doesn’t appeal to me at all.
The UK Championship, you go straight to the venue. So if there was one, that’d be high up on my list as a possibility.
I’d like to think that one day I’ll play something.
But I won’t do it for publicity and if I don’t think I can play well, I won’t do it.
Betway UK Championship betting
READ: Stephen Hendry: The Mindset of a Serial Winner – Part Four
READ: Stephen Hendry: The Mindset of a Serial Winner – Part Three
