The wrong one

Oh, I wanted so much to be seeing Stephen at the Crucible on Thursday. It looks very much like I will be seeing a Stephen but the wrong one: the Hendry version barely showed up for this morning's session. It's a 'best of 25' match, but letting your opponent have a 7-1 lead when they're not playing their best is not the best way to win it.

Update: 11-1 now, sob. In the 90s, he could win ten in a row - most famously in the final against Jimmy White, when he came back from 14-8 to win 14-18 (amongst his numerous records is the winning the most consecutive frames at the Crucible: nineteen, including his first nine the next year!) But not now. Sob.

Update: 13-2. Sob.

And now, I never will

Stephen Hendry retires as a snooker professional.

He was not the most talented player, but he was undoubtedly the best and deserves a long tribute programme at some point. Until this year, he was the youngest player ever to play at the Word Championships - Willie Thorne likes to joke that he 'murdered him 10-8' in that match. He remains the youngest ever to get to ever other round, including winning it.

Other records include most world titles in the modern era (seven), most ranking titles (36), most competitive century breaks (775), the list goes on..

I'd love to see his match with Jimmy White in 1988 again - probably the quickest 13-12 match in history, with both players repeatedly winning in one visit from the slightest opening from the break off - but it is the four finals with Jimmy that they'll concentrate on. I've mentioned the 18-14 win today, but he also won his first 18-12, had a then record 18-5, and the last of them was an 18-17 thriller.