In the last post there is a record of the Highest break of The King of the Crucible that he made in 2009, when
he was 40 years old. But in the following years, the quality of his game did
not fall, as evidenced by the Highest breaks he made in 2011 and 2012. However, 2012 was
the last in the Main Tour of The Ice Man. In the 1/16- th World Chempionship, 2012, Hendry defeated Bingham (ranking 17 in the beginning of the season, and 16 at the end) - 10:4 (match when he made his last 11th Highest break). In 1/8, he did not leave a chance for defending title World Champion, and countryman Higgins (started the season 2nd, finished 5th) -
13:3. In the quarterfinals, two Stevens, two Scots met: 31-year-old Maguire from Glasgow (ranking in the season 8-4) and 43-year-old Hendry who was born in Edinburgh, who
dropped in ranking from 16th to 21st place.
Let's go back to the background of this historic match. The irony of fate is that with his brilliant games in the 90s, his 7 titles and his prize money, the King of the Crucible attracted tens of thousands of boys to snooker, who could see the smallest nuances of the game on TV, hear intelligent comments and analysis of experts. These boys trained hard, went through the toughest selection sieve, and by the 2000-s were audacious contenders for a place in the sun. I think that if snooker in the 90-s and 2000-s did not become a television sport, Hendry could have remained The King for many years and most likely broke the record of 15-time (1927-1940, 1946 ) World Champion Joe Davis. TV and the great game of Hendry as a player contributed to the arrival of a new generation of talented players in snooker. They raised the level of competition so much that The Ice Man in the 2000-s began to thaw, which was reflected in a gradual decline in his rating. But back to the game.
When a young, cheeky player met with a 7-times World Champion, he had a huge advantage - if he lost, no one would blame him, but The King of Crucible was increasingly irritated by the self-confidence of the talented youngsters and the pressure from previous failures increased. As a result, The Ice Man did not demonstrate his best performance and deepened the psychological hole. In the 1/4 World Championship of 2012, Hendry lost to Maguire 2:13 and immediately announced that he was retiring and that he had made the decision 3 months ago.
Let's go back to the background of this historic match. The irony of fate is that with his brilliant games in the 90s, his 7 titles and his prize money, the King of the Crucible attracted tens of thousands of boys to snooker, who could see the smallest nuances of the game on TV, hear intelligent comments and analysis of experts. These boys trained hard, went through the toughest selection sieve, and by the 2000-s were audacious contenders for a place in the sun. I think that if snooker in the 90-s and 2000-s did not become a television sport, Hendry could have remained The King for many years and most likely broke the record of 15-time (1927-1940, 1946 ) World Champion Joe Davis. TV and the great game of Hendry as a player contributed to the arrival of a new generation of talented players in snooker. They raised the level of competition so much that The Ice Man in the 2000-s began to thaw, which was reflected in a gradual decline in his rating. But back to the game.
When a young, cheeky player met with a 7-times World Champion, he had a huge advantage - if he lost, no one would blame him, but The King of Crucible was increasingly irritated by the self-confidence of the talented youngsters and the pressure from previous failures increased. As a result, The Ice Man did not demonstrate his best performance and deepened the psychological hole. In the 1/4 World Championship of 2012, Hendry lost to Maguire 2:13 and immediately announced that he was retiring and that he had made the decision 3 months ago.
Curiously,
this was the season when Trump from the 9th place soared to the 2nd, but in the
1/8 of World Championship lost to Carter 12:13. And Carter (in the season dropped from
6 to 17) in the semifinal beat 17:12 Maguire, who made to retire The King of the Crucible. The World Champion in 2012 (as in 2001, 2004, 2008 and 2013) become O'Sullivan (places in
the season 11-9), who beat Carter 18:11 and earned £250,000.
Hendry must
have been particularly emotional about losing to Maguire. After all, The King
of the Crucible made his 10th maximum in the 1/8 Welsh Open in 2011. But this
achievement was overshadowed by the same Maguire, winning the math 4: 2.
I think
that Stephen still regretted the decision to leave the Tour in 2012. By that
time, a remarkable shift had grown up in Scotland: McManus, Dott, Higgins,
Maguire, McGill, Donaldson - but even in the pack of these superprofi, Hendry
could remain an ace until today. Hendry's World Snooker profile states that he is "generally considered the greatest snooker player ever", and it is difficult to disagree
with this.
