A biography for Stephen Hendryhasn’t been written yet.
“I tried hard to create my own records when a lot of them belonged to Steve Davis, so to see someone else beat yours, you'd be lying if you said there wasn't a twinge of regret there.”
“When I was playing Jimmy White in those finals, I could tell when he was under pressure.”
“Ronnie O'Sullivan is the only player in history to be dominant and popular at the same time.”
“The thing is, with century breaks, maximums, ranking tournaments, these sorts of things are automatically going to be broken: it's not if but when.”
“When I didn't retain the world title after my first win, which no one's ever done, I was gutted and made my driver take me home straight away. We travelled through the night, and I didn't say a word all the way from Sheffield to South Queensferry.”
“Even though I say to myself that I was seven-times World Champion, the voice in my head says, 'You can't play this shot.' It's completely mental - quite literally. My confidence is sapped every time this happens.”
“There's no point, me turning up at the world championship as a publicity stunt and then lose 10-3 to someone who shouldn't tie my shoelaces.”
“The crowd could be tough to deal with at times, but I learned to use them and the way they behaved towards me as strong motivation.”
“Even as a boy, my dad always told me, 'Don't show emotion.' If I banged my cue, he would give me a row and say, 'Stop that.' Don't show any petulance. It was developed, certainly, but I think you have got to have it in you.”
“I remember far more shots that cost me matches than the ones that won me matches. That is maybe the way you think if you are someone who has won a lot of tournaments and had a successful career.”
“There are some people who never get used to losing at anything, and I am probably one of them.”
“By the age of 14, I had stopped doing homework and stopped studying - as soon as I had any spare time, I was up to the local snooker club. I was fortunate my parents never forced me to stop playing snooker and told me to carry on at school. Nowadays, that probably isn't the best advice. I basically had nothing else to fall back on.”
“People often write to me, addressing the envelope, 'Stephen Hendry, Snooker Player' or 'Stephen Hendry, Scotland,' and it reaches me.”
“In all the years I've been playing, I've never considered changing my cue. It was the first cue I ever bought, aged 13, picked from a cabinet in a Dunfermline snooker centre just because I liked the Rex Williams signature on it. I saved £40 to buy it. It's a cheap bit of wood, and it's been the butt of other players' jokes for ages.”
“You cannot underestimate the body blow for a snooker player of having your cue broken. After all, it's an extension to your arm.”
“However much I try, I can't shake off the effects of the yips.”
“My favourite store is All Saints. Having spent years dressed in a dinner suit and a bow tie as a professional player, it is wonderful being able to wear normal clothes again.”
“The only way you can get confidence is by winning, and unfortunately, the only way you win is by being confident.”
“In Britain, we don't appreciate people who have been a major success in sport. It is grudgingly given to you.”
“If the World Seniors led to a place directly into the Crucible, then I would take it very seriously because to play there again would be incredible.”