After an array of winners on the World Snooker Tour this season, this year’s World Championship has been touted as one of the most open ever, but Stephen Hendry is not so sure.
There have been 15 different winners of ranking events over the 2025/26 campaign so far, with the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Kyren Wilson and John Higgins surprisingly not among them.
World champion Zhao Xintong has emerged as the most potent force of the season, having won three titles since the start of February, but otherwise it has been entirely unpredictable.
Seven-time champion Hendry does not expect the Crucible to be entirely unpredictable, though, seeing no more than five genuine contenders.
‘It’s kind of a handful,’ Hendry told Metro of likely world champions this year. ‘It’s like counting on one hand, I think.’
Having said that, the Scot is not exactly convinced on who will be lifting the trophy on May 4, but has given his backing to four-time champ Mark Selby after his stirring UK Championship win earlier this season.
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‘My tip is Selby,’ he said. ‘I just think he’s due a good World Championship. And obviously if he plays like he played in the UK, at his best, he’s almost unplayable.’
Never far from the World Championship conversation is Hendry’s fellow seven-time winner, Ronnie O’Sullivan, who the Scot reckons will go deep this year.
‘O’Sullivan is like the elephant in the room if he plays, because we all know he knows how to get it done at the Crucible,’ said Hendry.
‘I think this year he’s going to have something to say about the world title. I think he’s going to be there or thereabouts.
‘I just feel that the way he played at the World Open, the things he’s done, the two maximums [at the Saudi Arabia Masters], the 153, he’s still got those special things in him.
‘I’m certainly not going to write him off. If he gets through the first couple of rounds, he knows how to get it done and that’s so important there.’
Kyren Wilson has had an unusual season as he has landed two huge invitational titles at the Masters and Shanghai Masters, but has been so underwhelming in ranking events that he failed to qualify for the 16-man Players Championship and 12-man Tour Championship.
That was actually the case when he won the world title in 2024, so Hendry still sees the Warrior as a contender, but does not see his lack of competition of late as a plus.
‘He won it when he didn’t play in this [Tour Championship]. There’s two ways of looking at it,’ said Hendry. ‘I would rather be playing in tournaments, but he’ll be coming in as fresh as a daisy.
‘But sometimes when you’re just practising and practising and practising and not watching the TV because tournaments on, sometimes you can get a bit into a lull.
‘Listen, there’s no doubt Kyren’s one of the guys that are capable of winning. There’s no doubt about it. But I would rather be coming into it a little bit sharper competitive-wise. But as I say, he’ll say he won it when he was fresh.’
Two players Hendry is not so hot on at the Crucible are Judd Trump and Neil Robertson, with both winning one ranking title this season, but with questionable Sheffield records given their success elsewhere.
‘Trump is a bit of an enigma for me at the Crucible,’ said the 57-year-old. ‘I don’t know whether it means as much to him, which if it doesn’t, it surprises me.
‘Robertson, another one, apart from winning it once, he’s done nothing at the Crucible. Apart from Saudi, he’s done nothing this season to give you any confidence that he can do it at the Crucible.
‘It doesn’t mean he can’t, but he certainly wouldn’t be in my top four or five picks.’
The bookmakers’ favourite for the World Championship is reigning champion Zhao Xintong, who is being widely tipped to break the infamous Crucible curse this year and become the first player ever to defend their first world title in Sheffield.
Hendry can see the ‘awesome’ Chinese star making history, but can also see him slipping up on the opening day if he is handed a tough qualifier in the draw.
‘I think he can [break the curse]. I think a lot depends on the draw, you can get a tricky draw,’ Hendry told Metro on whether Zhao can break the curse.
‘It doesn’t matter how cool he is. When you walk down those stairs as defending champion, it’s a massive thing. But I don’t think it’ll be as big a thing for him.
‘I think he can. Whether I put him out as my absolute favourite, I don’t know, but I think he can.’