He admired and coveted Daviss success and adopted his mindset. At age 30 (seven years younger than Reardon was when he won the first of his six world titles) Hendry considered retirement, but he persevered, working with former coach Frank Callan. Ronnie O'Sullivan makes a maximum break 147 in 6 min on first frame! The 53-year-old, who first lifted the famous trophy aged 21, quipped: "Well he cant become the youngest world champion, not even Ronnie can do that., Davis replied: But he is playing like Benjamin Button.. The groan of appreciation from Stephen Hendry accompanies it perfectly. pic.twitter.com/kkjnHt983m. Nobody could stop him this time as he downed former champions Peter Ebdon (10-4), Mark Williams (13-6) and Neil Robertson (13-10) before waltzing past Matthew Stevens (17-10) in the semi-finals and Ali Carter 18-11 for the title. pic.twitter.com/K1gRIJLnz9, Mark Selby thought Ronnie O'Sullivan's cavalier approach to getting out of his snookers was disrespectful. "I can't really envisage it happening, there's just going to be more and more players knocking each other out.". Fellow Glaswegian Anthony McGill has won two and Edinburghs Chris Small, forced to retire in 2005 due to a chronic back condition, one. In 2020, Hendry accepted a tour card for the World Snooker Tour, indicating his return to professional play. After Hendry lost the top ranking in 2007, his play began to decline, and in 2012 he retired suddenly following his loss in the quarterfinals of the snooker world championship. The result gained revenge from losing a deciding frame in that year's Charity Challenge final, in which Hendry scored an iconic maximum break. In recognition of his excellence in the sport, Hendry was knighted, receiving a MBE recognition in 1994. Ronnie O'Sullivan claimed a record-breaking seventh UK Championship title with a 10-6 victory over Mark Allen at the York Barbican. All rights reserved. O'Sullivan set to pass another Hendry record He became the first player to score the maximum of 147 three times in tournament play, recording his first 147 in 1992 and two more in 1995 (he scored additional maximums in 1997 and 1998, two in 1999, and others in 2001 and 2009). It was the eighth maximum of his career and he followed it up by thrashing Stephen Maguire 10-2 for his fourth UK title. What is the prize money at the 2022 World Snooker Championship? The following season, he successfully defended that title and won the World Doubles Championship with partner Mike Hallett. Updates? They each joined the pro circuit the following year. Davis was the best player of his generation but still played the percentages. . Ronnie O'Sullivan's first TV appearance aged just 14 in 1990, making a break of 75. Stephen Hendry believes Mark Selby to be a greater threat to his record of seven World Snooker Championship titles than Ronnie O'Sullivan, says Steve Davis. He's an absolutely wonderful snooker player.. Higgins, 47, continues to have a successful career at the top level with 31 ranking event victories to his name, including four world titles. A series of records fell in his wake. Ronnie O'Sullivan has won more ranking titles in snooker than any other player, just ahead of Stephen Hendry. Graeme Dott, raised on the Easterhouse estate in Glasgow often associated with social decay, demonstrated his iron toughness by becoming world champion in 2006. Ronnie O'Sullivan - 2003 World Championship - Marco Fu, 7. He is much older and less driven, and the game has moved on with far more players capable now of playing to a high standard. Stephen . "Its just a number at the end of the day, I dont get too caught up with it to be honest with you.". "The ultimate goal is to play one more match at the Crucible. As if to underline how disappointing the comeback has been, the man himself did not enter the event. Technically, the most successful player at the world championship is. After three semi-final defeats in the 1990s and a shock 10-9 defeat to David Gray in round one of the Millennium edition, O'Sullivan reached his first Crucible final by overcoming Andy Hicks (10-2), Dave Harold (13-6), Peter Ebdon (13-6) and Joe Swail (17-11) before an absorbing 18-14 victory over 1998 champion John Higgins. Article bookmarked. "For me - and I've said it since 1990 - he's the greatest player ever to lift a snooker cue. Ronnie O'Sullivan 775th Century with superb fluke! Who has won the most World Snooker Championship titles? He has played a partial schedule in 2021 and 2022, never making it past the second round of a tournament. He had 24 hours to decide whether to take it and he could not resist. Hendrys father bought him a junior-sized snooker table for Christmas when he was twelve.He became obsessed with the game, quickly developing his skills, and began competing in junior amateur tournaments. "Hopefully, if I can keep getting better and keep improving, my technique becomes reliable and I can get to a better pace, then next year will be the goal to get back to the Crucible," he said after his win over old foe White last year. Final report: Ronnie O'Sullivan 18-8 Kyren Wilson, CLICK HERE FOR EVERY 147 BREAK IN SNOOKER HISTORY, WATCH ALL THE CRUCIBLE MAXIMUM BREAKS IN HISTOR, Richard Mann's story of the snooker season, Sporting Life exclusive: Neil Robertson interview, Nick Metcalfe on a decade of World Championship finals, World Championship memories: White always a People's Champion, World Championship memories: O'Sullivan's finest hour, World Championship memories: Higgins prevails but Trump grows, World Championship memories: Joe Johnson: The biggest shock, World Championship memories: 1984 World Championship stands out, World Championship: 6 (2001, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2020), UK Championship: 7* (1993, 1997, 2001, 2007, 2014, 2017, 2018), Masters: 7* (1995, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2014, 2016, 2017), Century breaks: 1,061* (179 at Crucible*). Ronnie O'Sullivan - 2018 English Open - Allan Taylor. Hendry, 43, retired on Tuesday after a 13-2 quarter-final defeat by Stephen Maguire ended his 27th consecutive appearance at the Crucible. Wishaws John Higgins was taken with one of his brothers to a snooker club as a boy by their father, who could have a social drink with his friends while his sons were happily occupied. MORE:Is Ronnie O'Sullivan snooker's GOAT? On either side of this triumph, he appeared in two other Crucible finals. That year he also won the Australian Masters and successfully defended his Scottish Professional Championship and World Doubles Championship titles.. Enjoy. One of snookers all-time greats Scotlands Stephen Hendry remains the player with the most World Championship titles to his name in the modern era following his record seven Crucible crowns won from 1990-1999. Ranking the game's top five players in history, including World Championship stars. He reeled off six consecutive frames to establish a four-frame advantage at the interval and despite a brief rally by his opponent he wrapped up victory with a break of 78. Top 5 Ranked Men's Snooker Players Of All Time. Even before his victory, O'Sullivan was already considered by many to be the greatest player of all time not least because of the number of ranking titles he has collected during his storied 30-year career. O'Sullivan returned to the sport just in time for the Masters after a near eight-month hiatus in which he decided to defend his UK Championship title in December 2015. Ronnie O'Sullivan - 2000 Scottish Open v Quinten Hann, 5. 2023 Eurosport, a Warner Bros. From March 1990 to January 1991, Hendry won 5 straight titles and 36 consecutive matches to post the longest unbeaten string in the sports history. Although he sat out of the 2022 World Snooker Championship qualifying, Hendry stated that he intends to continue competing. Hendry was 30 and the extraordinary intensity he had given to be the best seemed to wane. Hendry, O'Sullivan, Davis and the players with the most trophies, Is Ronnie O'Sullivan snooker's GOAT? When the 96/97 season began, there were nine Scots ranked inside the top 64 and plenty more coming up on the rails. Until 1982, only the world championship counted as a ranking event; two others the International Open and the Professional Players Tournament were then added, as was the UK Championship in 1984. The rate at which he's been losing his records hasnt been lost on Hendry, who was teased by Hazel Irvine and Steve Davis while on punditry duty about OSullivan potentially reaching 16 centuries at a single World Championship. On that occasion he was thrashed 5-1 by Dennis Taylor in the wildcard round but this was a completely different story, overcoming John Parrott, Terry Griffiths and Peter Ebdon prior to a 9-3 triumph over fellow teenage sensation John Higgins. The 1989-90 season was the beginning of Stephen Hendrys period of dominance, both in major tournaments and atop the world rankings. Ronnie O'Sullivan - 2001 LG Cup - Drew Hendry, 6. 2005: Wins his 36th and most recent ranking title at the Malta Cup. Hendry won his first major junior tournament, the Scottish U-16 Championship, at age 14.Around this time, he appeared on the junior version of the BBCs Pot Black, a televised single-frame snooker competition that contributed to the games resurgence.At 15, Hendry won the Scottish Amateur Championship. Here's a look back through time at his 20 Triple Crown titles, his 15 career maximums and the typically memorable moment he scored his 1000th century last year. Hendry changed the way snooker was played, ushering in a more attacking era and establishing records that took decades to be matched. The Romford potter has amassed 52 more Crucible centuries (179 vs 127) to take his astonishing overall career tally to 1,061 compared to Scotsman's mark of 775 - which is second on the all-time list - while 15 of those were maximums. His 16 centuries in the 2002 world championship also set a record. Following the 1996 world championship, Hendrys play slipped. The record was previously set by Stephen Hendry back in 1999. Mark Allen, Mark Selby and John Higgins had all thwarted his attempts to lift the Crucible trophy for a fourth time as he failed to get past the quarter-final in any of the previous three seasons. The seventh, though, was like a dam breaking. At the first World Team Cup in 1979, there was not even a Scottish team. The Rocket dominated from the start against Neil Robertson, winning 10-4, and finished in style by reaching a career milestone which may never be passed. It takes too much time practicing getting out of snookers, I'd rather practice break building." Three months later he successfully defended the World Championship title for the first time in his career. He remains the only player to have compiled a 147 break during the one-table stage of the semi-finals of the World Championship (1995).