Snooker legend Stephen Hendry has explained why he looked “miserable” during the heights of his career.
“King of the Crucible” Hendry is one of snooker’s most successful stars having won the World Championship seven times in Sheffield.
Hendry is now a snooker pundit for both the BBC and ITV. He also has his own YouTube show called “Cue Tips”.
But during his glory days, Hendry was known for not being the most cheerful of players. He rarely showed emotion even when picking up the trophies he won. Some say Stephen Hendry looked “miserable”.
This is something Hendry admitted when he spoke to the “High Performance” podcast, hosted by sports broadcaster Jake Humphries.
Hendry said despite dominating snooker during the 1990s there was a sense that he “never felt satisfied”. And that gave him a “miserable” tag.
He said: “People always say to me there was no emotion, no crying or smiling. But sometimes I found it difficult to put on a genuine smile after I won titles. Because for me it was climax of all the work I put in. It was my job to go there and win.
“And sometimes after a Sunday night (winning a trophy) I’d be back practising the Monday for the next on. It was because I had that greed, which I think individual sportsman if they’re going to be serial winners have to have. They can never be satisfied. I was never satisfied.”
‘Miserable’ Stephen Hendry
The snooker great was asked how he would describe his identity as a player.
“Pretty cold really,” Hendry responded. “I mean, miserable is a word that gets thrown at me.
“That was just my natural way. I knew I had a personality inside me but when I was on the table, I wasn’t there to do that sort of stuff. I was there to win.
“People always say to me there’s no personalities in the game anymore’. I say ‘there is but just when they’re on the table they are there to win’.
“Steve Davis was that and I learned a lot of Steve. I would show emotion in practice but when you’re on that table you can’t show your opponent any weakness.”
You can watch Stephen Hendry’s full interview with the High Performance podcast below.
4 thoughts on “Stephen Hendry on why he looked ‘miserable’ on the snooker table”