Stephen Hendry’s Top Five

Monique opinion, Professional snooker,

Stephen Hendry was asked about his snooker “Top Five” and here is his answer, as shared by WST:

Hendry Names All-Time Top Five

Stephen Hendry names his all-time top five players in the latest episode of Snooker Club podcast. Download the episode NOW on Apple, Spotify, Linktree or wherever you get your podcasts.

Seven-time World Champion Hendry was asked to pick his top five. He said: “I’ll put Ronnie O’Sullivan top, obviously because of the success he has had, but also for his cue ball control which is the best I’ve ever seen. 

“He is an artist with the cue ball, I love watching him making breaks, maybe when the black and pink are out of commission and there are balls on cushions, when he is at his best he still finds a way to clear the table. Also his safety game – he never plays a safety shot plain ball, he is always using side to manipulate the cue ball. And under pressure, his bottle is unquestionable. 

“After that, it’s very close between Mark Williams and John Higgins, I’d prefer to have them joint second. I’ll go with Mark just because of his recent record against John at the Crucible. He is a freak of nature, he has the best temperament of any sportsman I have seen. He maybe hasn’t got the cue power of others, but he has great touch and he is just a brilliant potter. 

“Third is John – maybe the greatest match player of all time. If I had to pick a player to clear up from 50 behind with five reds left, I’d take John. He has made over 1,000 centuries and his scoring is phenomenal.

“Mark Selby is fourth, he is one of all time greats. In terms of ball striking, not many are above him, the work he gets on the cue ball. He has the tactical game and he can win when not as best. I hated playing him, he’s so tough. 

“In fifth could be Judd Trump because of what he has won and his centuries, but he only has one world title. So I’m going for Steve Davis based on his utter domination of the 1980s. People will say that the players weren’t as good back then, but I don’t care. He’d still be in the top 16 today. He was the ultimate winning machine and I learned a lot from him.” 

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Judd will not be happy. He will say that he treats every event with the same respect and all credits to him for doing that but the World Championship with its longer format remains the benchmark by which a player is judged by someone like Hendry and one can’t argue with the fact that it poses a unique challenge.

4 thoughts on “Stephen Hendry’s Top Five”

  3. I think it’s good to ask the likes of Stephen to give their own view on this. However, I can’t see how you can rank Willo in front of John Higgins. World titles, triple crowns events and titles in general count for something. Never mind the amount of centuries and 147 breaks. Also Willo has been nowhere near as consistent and actually dropped out of the top 16 multiple times. I find it even difficult to rank him above Selby…

    • I have been thinking about this and the only explanation I see is that, when on his game, Willo looks so natural, so effortless, and pots incredibly difficult balls as if they were over the hole. Higgins and Selby make it look more like hard work. They rarely give that impression of playing with “freedom”, without a care in the world. Willo does when at his best.

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