Chris Wakelin does not feel like he gets the credit he deserves from Stephen Hendry, believing the seven-time world champion ‘clearly doesn’t think he’s any good.’
The world number 13 got his World Snooker Championship campaign off to a winning start by beating Liam Pullen 10-6 on Wednesday.
The 34-year-old has had a great couple of seasons on tour, with his Scottish Open title this season his second ranking tournament win, which followed an impressive Crucible quarter-final run last season.
The Monster is firmly establishing himself in the upper echelons of the game, but he does not feel like Hendry sees him that way.
In fact he thinks the seven-time world champion doesn’t rate him at all, claiming that Hendry suggested Pullen could beat him at the Crucible despite having never watched the 20-year-old play.
‘Someone who doesn’t rate me at all is Stephen Hendry,’ Wakelin said after his first round win. ‘Every single Players event, whenever I’m playing a match on TV he always says the other guy is going to win. I laugh about it every time and it gives me a lot of pleasure to just go out there and do my thing.
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‘He obviously doesn’t rate me at all because I’m not world number one or world champion in the past, but it’s my job just to go out there and focus on my game. You’re always going to have critics in this sport as you do in every sport so it doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.
‘Even on his YouTube the other day, which I’m a big fan of and watch it every week, he said on there that he fancied Liam Pullen to beat me, and in the next breath he said I’ve never seen him play before. Whatever.’
It was actually Steve Davis who suggested Pullen could have a run on Hendry’s CueTips channel, but the Scot did admit that he hadn’t seen him play.
Hendry did say of Wakelin that he was a ‘lesser seed’ than some others, when he was referring to Liam Highfield taking on world champion Zhao Xintong he said: ‘The fact he’s playing the world champion; all the attention isn’t on him. Or would he want one of the less [seeds]. For example, this is no disrespect, but let’s say he’d have drawn Chris Wakelin, would that make a difference for Liam Highfield.’
Wakelin suggested this feeling has been running for a number of years as he played Hendry in 2021 and took the opportunity to get a dig in back then.
‘When I played him a few years ago [losing 3-2 at the British Open], everyone was ringing me up before and saying, “oh you’re playing him, he’s come back,” I thought I’d have a little dig so when they asked me, are you looking forward to playing a seven-time world champion and legend, I said I was a bit young to remember when he was at his best but my mum was a huge fan – and then he beat me!
‘I’ve got a massive amount of respect for anyone who’s ever won a tournament in this game, it’s so difficult. Stephen being a seven-time world champion I’ve got nothing but admiration for the guy but he clearly doesn’t think I’m any good.’
Asked if Wakelin would like to see Ronnie O’Sullivan go clear of Hendry on eight World Championship titles this year, he said with a laugh: ‘Oh yeah, just to see his face at the end.
‘They’ll definitely stick him on commentary for the final session of the final. It will be a long time coming and it would be quite funny. I’d be at the front of the queue to congratulate Ronnie.’
Wakelin now has a couple of days off and will return on Saturday to take on either Neil Robertson or Pang Junxu in the last 16.
The Scottish Open champion was level at 5-5 with the debutant, who looked to have settled well at the Crucible, with breaks of 57, 63, 97, 58 and 96.
Wakelin burst for the winning line from there, though, knocking in four half-centuries in the final six frames, with Pullen making a 121 in the only other frame he claimed.
A clash with Robertson would be a rematch from last year’s tournament when Wakelin downed the Australian in round one.
Robertson and Pang play their first round game over two sessions on Wednesday and Thursday evening.