Ken Doherty is baffled by Stephen Hendry’s omission from recent ‘greatest of all-time’ lists, as he names his top five snooker players ever.
Clearly ranking players of different eras is a subjective call, but Doherty is surprised to see Hendry miss out on a podium finish in the eyes of two former world champions.
During the recent World Championship, Steve Davis stirred debate by saying of Mark Selby: ‘I think he’s top three standard ever. Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Selby. The actual standard.’
Neil Robertson agreed, saying: ‘I think you’d probably have Ronnie, John and third greatest would be probably Selby. Yeah, I’d have those three.’
Hardly bad choices, but Doherty would not agree, feeling the dominant players of the past should not be overlooked just because, inevitably, the performance levels in a sport will improve over time.
On his five greatest of all-time, the 1997 world champion told Metro: ‘Ronnie, Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis, John Higgins, and Mark Selby.’
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Informed of recent top three lists, he said: ‘What, they put Selby ahead of Stephen Hendry?
‘No, Stephen Hendry almost won six in a row here [the Crucible]! No one will ever, ever do that again. And as great as the other players are, even Ronnie, Ronnie won a seven in 30 years. Stephen won seven in 10.
‘No one will dominate the game the way he played. And if he had been around with the era today, he would have actually got better.
‘He would have competed against them, as Davis would have as well. People say, “oh, Davis.” I played Davis in the 90s. He was unbelievable. So clever.’
Longevity is rightly praised when it comes to the epic careers of O’Sullivan, Higgins and others, but Doherty says the incredible dominance Hendry had in the 90s is not to be undervalued.
‘Stephen Hendry, he was finished at 35. These guys have got another 20 years on him now,’ said the Irishman. ‘Just because of his physics and physiology, that’s why he had to stop, because he got the yips and that’s the way it happens to certain people.
‘But when he was in the game, he was winning six tournaments a year, when there were only 12, you know what I mean? It’s not like it is today.’
O’Sullivan and Hendry both declared each other the GOAT ahead of the World Championship, although it is the Rocket who has almost every vote on that front now.
‘Stephen for me is the greatest player I’ve ever seen, ever played,’ O’Sullivan said on Channel 5 during the John Virgo Trophy.
Hendry said: ‘You can’t get higher praise from a better player. Ronnie is obviously the GOAT.
‘In terms of break-building and cue ball control, he’s taken the game to a level that I thought we might never see.
‘He’s an artist with the cue ball. That’s the beauty of snooker in controlling the cue ball and nobody has done it better than Ronnie.’