Snooker [Latest - UK Championship, Barbican Centre, York 26 November to 8 December)

[Guest howyousawtheworld]

Why do I keep forgetting about the snooker?!

 

Watching a sitcom starring freaking Lee Mack. My god.

 

Eh I really like Lee Mack.

 

That said - go on Stephen Hendry! Feel sorry for Higgins but there's nothing like rolling back the years. The session this evening wasn't high in quality at all but the session this morning was absolutely outstanding. This morning was the best I've seen Hendry play in a long time

 

 

 

Hendry the Eighth possibly?

[Reilly]

I also really like Lee Mack, but as a comedian, really not as an actor.

 

Anyway! Enough de-railing, yes well done Hendry, I want to see him go as far as possible. He, and others have been saying for years, he is still a hell of a player in practice, but can't bring it to tournament play for some reason.

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Hendry the Eighth possibly?

I hope so - there's nothing like cheering on an underdog.

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R2 result: Stephen Maguire (Sco) 13-7 Joe Perry (Eng)

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R2 result: John Higgins (Sco) 4-13 Stephen Hendry (Sco)

 

R2 result: Ryan Day (Wal) 13-7 Cao Yupeng (Chn)

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R2 result: Ali Carter (Eng) 13-12 Judd Trump (Eng)

 

R2 result: Matthew Stevens (Wal) 13-11 Barry Hawkins (Eng)

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Stephen Hendry retires after World Snooker Championship defeat

 

Seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry has announced his retirement from snooker after a heavy 13-2 defeat by Stephen Maguire at the Crucible.

 

The 43-year-old, who looked out of sorts against Maguire in a one-sided World Championship quarter-final, said he made the decision three months ago.

 

He said: "There's a few reasons - the schedule, the fact I'm not playing the snooker I want to play, and the fact I'm not enjoying practice. It was quite an easy decision."

 

He added: "I didn't tell many people [before the tournament], but this is me finished from tournament snooker."

 

Asked whether he would have changed his mind if he had won the tournament, Hendry replied: "No not at all. If I had won, it would have been a better way to go out.

 

"I was delighted to have made a mamimum here [against Stuart Bingham in the first round] which is why I was more animated when I achieved it. I was delighted to do it on my last appearance.

 

"I've had so many memories here; my first time here, my first win, obviously my seventh world title. I could write a book about the memories that I had here.

 

"It's a sad that I won't play here [at the Crucible] again, I love playing here but it's a relief as much as anything.

 

"I want to do other things now. I've got a lot of commitments now in China, which I've signed up for and I can't do that and play snooker because I would never be at home."

 

Hendry, who was making his 27th consecutive appearance at the World Championship, looked back to his fluent best as he hit his third Crucible maximum - a record he shares with Ronnie O'Sullivan - in his first round defeat of Bingham.

 

He went on to beat defending champion Higgins 13-4 which prompted him to declare that he could win a record eighth world title.

But Hendry made a flurry of mistakes against Maguire, which his opponent ruthlessly punished to win the last-eight tie with a session to spare.

 

Jimmy White, who was beaten by Stephen Hendry in four World Championship finals, tweeted: "He was and is an unbelievable snooker player & has nothing to prove. I hope he enjoys his retirement, he really deserves it.

 

"He's always put snooker first, been a model professional, a credit to the game and I'll see him in the legends tour this year for more battles.

 

"I thank him sincerely for some of the best matches and memories of my own career. I'm not sure his records will ever be equalled."

 

Hendry became the youngest-ever world champion, aged 21 in 1990, before adding six more in the next nine years. He held the world number one ranking for eight consecutive years between 1990 and 1998 and then again briefly in 2006 and 2007.

 

Hendry, who lost to Willie Thorne on his World Championship debut in 1986, holds the record for the most world ranking titles (36) and the most competitive century breaks (775)

 

He also shares the record of most competitive maximum breaks with Ronnie O'Sullivan at 11.

 

After dominating the 1990s, Hendry's form started to tail off and he reached just one World Championship final in the next decade.

 

His last ranking tournament final was in the 2006 UK Championship where he lost to Peter Ebdon.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/snooker/17917326

[Reilly]

That's a shame, the biggest shame of it all is that according to players behind the scenes, and Stephen himself, he still has the ability to be one of the worlds top players, he regularly gets centuries when the pressures off. You could see that ability in his first round match, but that was against a much weaker player then Stephen Maguire, clearly Hendry has a mental block and has had that for years. It's sad to hear he's not enjoying his snooker, and understandable that it's for the best he should take a step back from trying to compete at the very top, because that must be frustrating.

[Guest howyousawtheworld]

A sad day for snooker. Reilly makes a good point. Something of a mental issue obviously creeped into Stephen's mind over the last few years or so. Unthinkable considering how unbeatable he once was. But we all know he still had something fantastic inside him as shown by that 147 and the first session he played against John Higgins. The best there has ever been in the sport. I hope he enjoys his retirement.

[Reilly]

Do you agree with Stephen Maguire, it's a bit early? It's not common in any sport, especially not snooker, to retire while you're still somewhat in contention, and lets not forget this is a guy who is still qualifying for the biggest stage every year.

 

On paper it seems like he could go on, but also as Maguire says, only Stephen knows how he's feeling, and Hendry's attitude has always been all or nothing.

[Guest howyousawtheworld]

I think he still had something to give but what ever is right for him. He was absolutely convinced that he could win an 8th title when asked by Hazel Irvine a few weeks back and with some of his play in the first two rounds there was every reason to believe him.

 

Hendry for me is similar to what Schumacher is in f1. Schumacher like Hendry obviously isn't competing at the highest level that only they alone have experienced but even in their veteran statuses within their sports they can still show flashes of their real selves. People say 'oh Schumacher should just retire' but that's all very easy to do that considering his past achievements like Hendry's. But when you still have something to contribute to the sport even if it isn't to the same level as it once was, there's still good reason to not retire. So I would probably agree with Maguire that he has retired too early. It's just a shame Hendry's last match had to be a thrashing because people will look at that scoreline and say 'good decision Stephen' when that scoreline is totally unrepresentative of the Hendry of today who just a few days back did beat the defending world champion!

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Was Stephen Hendry the greatest of them all?

 

It is said that professional sportspeople die twice: first when their career ends and again when they draw their last breath. As with real life, the end of a sportsperson's career is less likely to be sudden than more of a drawn-out affair.

 

For Stephen Hendry, his unedifying defeat by Stephen Maguire at the Crucible on Tuesday was the last stirrings of a sporting career in terminal decline. By Hendry's own admission, he had been descending the "slow, slippery slope" for the best part of 10 years.

 

Even when he was making his 11th career 147 against Stuart Bingham last week and savaging defending champion John Higgins in the second round, Hendry, the perfectionist's perfectionist, knew he was nowhere near to being back to his best. "Did I really play that well?" he said. "I don't think so."

 

Different sports allow their legends to age with different levels of dignity. When a footballer's legs go, they have no option but to quit. When a tennis player burns out, they either quit or they fast disappear from the rankings. But the non-athletic nature of snooker means its legends invariably play on: stalking past glories, their often agonising death throes on display for all to witness.

 

Not every snooker player's career fizzles out in pain. Higgins once said that while Steve Davis loves snooker, Stephen Hendry loves winning. Which would explain why Davis is still not retired, 17 years after capturing his last ranking event and 23 years after winning his sixth and last world title.

 

While for Davis, the experience of World Championship qualifying, involving as it does battling young hopefuls and faded stars in a cavernous, partitioned sports hall, is just about bearable, for Hendry it was demeaning.

 

"The only people watching were my opponent's family on their big day," said the 43-year-old, who was forced to qualify for the Crucible this year for the first time since 1988. "Without meaning to be disrespectful, it's not a big day for me, I'm just there trying to survive."

 

Only last week, Hendry gave me an insight into just how great his love of winning was: "It's nice when you're beating an opponent and you're kicking him when he's down," said the Scot. "That's what sport is all about, the only reason for playing." An ideal epitaph, but his comments made some readers queasy.

 

Indeed, Hendry's winning made British sports fans feel uneasy throughout his career, especially during his glorious 1990s when he won his record - and perhaps never to be surpassed - seven world titles.

 

"I am not a superstar in Britain," Hendry told the BBC in 2008. "In Britain we don't appreciate people who have been a major success in sport. It is grudgingly given to you. If you just practise, work hard every day, win tournaments and don't go out doing whatever [so-called characters] do, you are boring and no-one wants anything to do with you.

 

"Even when I used to play Jimmy White in Scotland, he would have the majority of the support. Jimmy was their favourite, he is one of those characters, I suppose. Jimmy was great to watch - but what did he win?"

 

It is Hendry's misfortune that the general sports fan in Britain is shot through with a rather sentimental streak: "Yes, Stephen, but why did 'our' Jimmy not win? Because you kept on beating him, you miserable old thing."

 

Even by British standards, snooker is more misty-eyed than most sports. Hence why the discussion even takes place as to who is the greatest to have ever picked up a cue. Seven world titles say it's Hendry; 27 consecutive Crucible appearances say it's Hendry; 36 ranking titles says it's Hendry; 775 century breaks say it's Hendry; 11 147s say it's Hendry. But someone will always raise a hand, wipe away a tear and bring up Alex Higgins' 'miracle break' in 1982.

 

Before anyone cries "hypocrite", I will admit I am guilty as charged. A couple of weeks back, I wrote a blog hailing Ronnie O'Sullivan as a snooker game-changer, someone who changed the face of his sport. In terms of aesthetics, decoration and glitter, I stand by my point. But in terms of bricks and mortar, of relocating the very foundations of snooker, Hendry was, and is, the main man.

 

Perhaps only Babe Ruth, who transformed baseball completely in the 1920s with his power-hitting, has had such an impact on an individual sport. Fluid and aggressive, a fearless long-potter and a rapacious break-builder, the young Hendry confused as much as excited the fusty, traditional world of 1980s snooker.

 

It irked Hendry that some people viewed Judd Trump's expansive game as a great leap forward: "Everyone goes on about how attacking it is, but that's exactly how I won World Championships. It's nothing new." But 'snooker people' - those well-versed in this most esoteric of sports - knew the truth.

 

"One of my greatest heroes is Tiger Woods," said Hendry following his retirement announcement. "He said 'as long as you're in the discussion [as to who the greatest in your sport is], you've done all right'."

 

Done all right? Thankfully, the dead don't usually write their own eulogies. It's a shame Hendry didn't feel more loved while he was playing the game. Luckily, unlike with a real funeral, Hendry is still around to lap up the more florid - and infinitely more accurate - eulogies that will flood in over the coming days.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bendirs/2012/05/was_stephen_hendry_the_greates.html

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Ronnie O'Sullivan beat Neil Robertson 13-10 to reach the semi-finals of the World Championship.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/snooker/17912532

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Matthew Stevens swiftly collected the two frames he needed to complete a ruthless 13-5 victory over Ryan Day in their World Championship quarter-final.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/snooker/17918430

[Reilly]

Would love to see Matthew Stevens win it.

 

Ronnie could get his 4th and if he does, it could re-ignite the idea of him catching Davis and Hendry's achievements, regardless of whether he previously has indicated he'll retire within the next handful of seasons.

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I'm gunning for Ali Carter who's also through but I see him as the weakest of the semifinalists, determination getting him this far. Head says Ronnie, heart says Carter.

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S/F Result: Stephen Maguire (Sco) 12-17 Ali Carter (Eng)

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S/F Result: Ronnie O'Sullivan (Eng) 17-10 Matthew Stevens (Wal)

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World Snooker 2012: Ronnie O'Sullivan ready to retire

 

Ronnie O'Sullivan says this year's World Championship final could be his last match at the Crucible.

 

Three-time champion O'Sullivan, who faces fellow Essex player Ali Carter in the tournament decider, has threatened to quit on numerous previous occasions.

 

However, the recent expansion of the snooker tour to 27 events, covering 50 weeks of the year, could seal the 36-year-old's decision.

“There's no better way [to go out] than to get to the final at the Crucible. If I win it, it's a bonus; if I don't, at least I can say I've gone out on a high."”

 

He said: "I've made the decision. This might - might - be my last time here."

 

O'Sullivan, after comfortably beating Matthew Stevens in their semi-final, added: "I don't intend to stay in the game long, even though I feel [i'm in] in a lot better place. I might consider having a good, long break, a couple of years off. I've weighed up the pluses and the minuses and I'm quite comfortable with the decision. There's no better way [to go out] than to get to the final at the Crucible. If I win it, it's a bonus; if I don't, at least I can say I've gone out on a high."

 

O'Sullivan also said last year's World Championship could be his "last throw of the dice", while his most recent threat to quit was after the UK Championship in December. His focused displays at the Crucible this year, which he attributes to his work with sports psychologist Dr Steve Peters, led some to believe he had finally tamed his demons. The irony being, now that his demons finally appear to be in check, O'Sullivan seems happier to make the decision to hang up his cue.

 

"I've had a fantastic time and it's got to come to an end sooner or later and I don't want to drag it out too long," he explained. "People might think it's a bit crazy, but people close to me know what's going on. Now is as good a time as ever. I've been working on my mental side with Dr Peters and it hasn't been easy. But he's helped me massively and I've just been competing. "There's a lot of pressure involved in being a professional sportsman and I'm not sure I want to be sitting here another 10 years deluding myself. Some of these players I've played, they're so aggressive and you need to be on your game. That's a lot of pressure. And managing your own expectations and the expectations of everybody else is difficult. I've done my best, that's all I can do. Sometimes you've just got to live life a little bit. Maybe I'll do a bit of Strictly Come Dancing or something like that?"

 

Last week, seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry retired after his quarter-final defeat by Stephen Maguire, citing snooker chief Barry Hearn's revamped schedule as one of the reasons behind his decision. And on Thursday, O'Sullivan, a single parent, revealed he collapsed earlier this season under the workload of the punishing new regime. "I got a letter recently saying I have missed 12 tournaments and I might face another disciplinary hearing," said O'Sullivan. "I have two beautiful young kids who I want to see grow up, and that's all that matters. I've had a great career, but this is probably the hardest place to play: 17 days in Sheffield and I feel like I've been here two months. It never felt this long when I was 21 or 22, maybe that's because I had nothing else in my life."

 

As for the final itself, he said he expected Carter to be a more formidable opponent than when they met on the biggest stage in 2008, when O'Sullivan won 18-8. Carter, 32, beat Scotland's Maguire 17-12 in his semi-final and has his own mental guru in the form of 2002 champion Peter Ebdon.

 

"In that first final the big occasion got to him and he's learnt a lot from that," said O'Sullivan. "He's won tournaments since then [two ranking events] and been up to second in the world. "He's had a funny year this year [Carter tumbled down the rankings after suffering the effects of Crohn's disease ] but he's shown a lot of strength of character to come through that and reach the final.

 

"Certain players are suited to the Crucible, they have the right technique and temperament, and Ali's one of them. Stephen [Maguire] let the match get away from him early on and you can't afford to give Ali a start, he scores too heavily and is too good tactically. I wasn't surprised, Ali is a great player."

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/snooker/17972505

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World Snooker final 2012: Ronnie O'Sullivan leads Ali Carter

 

Ronnie O'Sullivan took a 10-7 lead over Ali Carter on day one of the World Championship final at the Crucible.

 

Three-time champion O'Sullivan made two century breaks, including a magnificent 141, to lead fellow Essex player Carter 5-3 after the first session.

 

Carter's resolve appeared to be creaking after the restart, with O'Sullivan capitalising on a string of mistakes to stretch his lead to four.

 

But Carter kept grinding away, winning a crucial final frame to stay in touch. This year's final is a repeat of the 2008 decider, which O'Sullivan won 18-8 to secure his third world title, while Carter has never beaten O'Sullivan in 11 previous attempts in ranking events.

 

While Carter's displays before the final suggested he would be a tougher nut to crack than four years ago, O'Sullivan, who has demonstrated unerring focus over the past two weeks, went into the rematch a red hot favourite.

 

O'Sullivan, 36, has strung together six straight frames against every player in every round so far this year, while his pre-final threat to quit the sport , win or lose, has added extra significance to the occasion.

 

The omens did not look positive for Carter in the first two frames, with O'Sullivan carrying on from where he left off in his 17-10 semi-final victory over Matthew Stevens.

 

After a tense tactical exchange, Carter, who overcame Stephen Maguire in his semi-final on Saturday, finally broke the tension when he potted the first ball of the match with 11 minutes and 44 seconds on the clock. However, a foul let his rival in and a break of 56 proved enough to take the opener, before O'Sullivan made a run of 117, his 10th century of the tournament, to make it 2-0.

 

But Carter rallied, compiling a nuggety break of 84 to make it 2-1 before winning a sticky, 35-minute frame to draw level at the mid-session interval.

 

After the break, O'Sullivan, his naturally aggressive game being tempered by his rival's obdurate style of play, nicked another tense frame to retake the lead before Carter took advantage of a couple of slip-ups to level again.

 

A run of 92 from O'Sullivan made it 4-3 before he broke the shackles completely with a magnificent clearance of 141, his highest break of the tournament so far, to lead by two frames after the first session.

 

Carter, 32, reduced the deficit immediately after the restart, only for O'Sullivan to reel off the next two frames courtesy of runs of 49 and 68. Carter, who has made much of the mental coaching he has been receiving from 2002 champion Peter Ebdon, refused to buckle, drawing on all his reserves to win a pivotal 12th frame after O'Sullivan potted the white.

 

However, there were signs Carter was finally losing his grip in the next two frames. Having missed two regulation blacks to hand his opponent an 8-5 lead, he made a series of mistakes in the next frame and opted not to return to the table with only one snooker needed as O'Sullivan moved four clear.

 

Carter steadied the ship with a battling break of 59 to make it 9-6 before O'Sullivan made a fluent run of 62 to reinstate his four-frame lead.

 

And while Carter took a scrappy final frame and has partially succeeded in shackling his opponent so far, few people will be betting against O'Sullivan returning on Monday to seal his fourth world crown.

 

The final resumes at 1430 BST on Monday.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/snooker/17977852

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World Snooker final 2012: Ronnie O'Sullivan closing on world title

 

Ronnie O'Sullivan is on the brink of winning his fourth World Championship, having opened up a 15-10 lead over Ali Carter heading into the final session.

 

O'Sullivan resumed 10-7 ahead and proceeded to win the first four frames, including a quick-fire break of 101, his 12th century of the tournament.

 

Carter looked a beaten man but rallied to win three frames in a row and take the match into a final session.

 

But O'Sullivan took the final frame and needs only three more to win the title.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/snooker/17983911

[Reilly]

Ronnie's shown flashes but really, Ali hasn't stepped up to it, even the 3 frames he's pulled back seemed more due to Ronnie losing concentration (Possibly out of boredom). It's been disappointing, it doesn't even feel like a world final.

 

But who knows, might be a better quality final session.

[Black Rose]

And that is that, Ronnie wins 18 to 10. :)

[Reilly]

18 to 11*, not that it matters a great deal.

[Guest howyousawtheworld]

It was a better final than the previous Carter v O'Sullivan final in 2008 but purely because O'Sullivan's all round play was very good. His safety play in the final was ridiculously good. I fully agree with Steve Davis in believing that this was the best we'd ever seen Ronnie at a World Championships. He beat tough opposition in each round and bet them fairly comfortably. Hope he stays in the game for a few more years yet. With Stephen Hendry gone, losing O'Sullivan not long after would have been a sucker punch to the sport.