Considered by many as The Greatest of All Time, Stephen Hendry altered the narrative of how snooker is played by the generations of competitors which followed. The most successful player of the modern era and holder of many ambitious records that players strive towards, Hendry introduced a style and attitude that made emergency rooms shiver due to how clinical he was.
The most notable shot that is associated with Hendry’s playstyle is the pack split, off the blue. Prior to this shot choice, players would more commonly split off the black or pick each red available before making the attempt. Hendry had an approach to break-building where he would prefer to get reds open as soon as possible as opposed to secure points where possible, then risking a canon to develop further reds.
The fear attached to a split off the blue is the chance of an in-off; whether it be from the cue ball going into either bottom corner, or a red possibly going into one of these pockets. Hendry excelled at this pivotal shot due to his ability to play a little lower on the cue ball, allowing it to stay near the pink just below the centre of the table. Meanwhile, as the reds scattered across the table he would clear up and win the frame.
Another shot that Hendry would often purposefully play is a high black to split into the pack. This isn’t something you would see professionals nowadays necessarily go for unless they had to. There is a little more certainty going into the pack off a low black as sometimes the arc of a high black shot can be tricky to predict. But with Hendry’s confidence, more often than not, he would get the perfect split.
Thanks to Hendry’s laser straight cue action, his long potting and aggressive approach brought a different perspective to snooker. Where most would normally play the ‘percentage’ shots and generally refuse long pots until an easier opportunity opened up, Hendry would rely on his exemplary long potting to create his own chances to get on the table. In a way, his long potting proficiency were his percentage shots and instilled with the confidence he built throughout the 1990s, was a key staple to his success and how the modern game is currently played.
Clearing the table and winning the frame in one-visit was something that Hendry pioneered and did more consistently than anyone before him. Centuries are far more sought after nowadays as players realise they would rather win a frame as quickly as possible instead of going back and forth with their opponent on the final colours.
A lot of Hendry’s skills on the snooker table can be attributed to the level of practice he did behind the scenes. He would often put 6-8 hours per day, 7 days a week into his practice; largely into the facets of his game which were his primary strengths, which is how he was able to consistently perform and win in the way that he did over the years. His dedication to practice is adopted by most professionals because they realise this is what they need to do if they want to come close to accomplishing what Hendry did.
Hendry impacted snooker in a way, not just through his achievements, but in the manner in which he accomplished this. Players follow a similar aggressive playstyle but incorporate a tighter safety skillset to try and minimise those that aim to long pot themselves into position. Many wonder how Hendry would have fared in today’s game. All you need to do is listen to him in commentary as he puts on his enchanted top hat and gloves while he perfectly predicts sequences of shots that players are going to perform before they have even gotten down to the table.
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