Snooker news - Stephen Hendry: I hope Ronnie O'Sullivan fails to break my world title record
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ByEurosport
Updated 27/05/2020 at 15:54 GMT
Stephen Hendry would love to see Ronnie O'Sullivan end his career without breaking or equalling his Crucible record of seven World Championship victories.
Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan
Image credit: Getty Images
Hendry - who retired in 2012 - believes 44-year-old O'Sullivan could yet have "three or four more world titles in him" if he puts his mind to the task of adding to the five he has already lifted since turning professional in 1992.
Rocket Ronnie will get his latest chance to make it six when the 44th staging of the World Championship gets underway on 31 July at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre.
The event was supposed to start on 18 April, but was postponed due to the coronavirus health crisis. It is expected to be held behind closed doors under strict UK health guidelines.
O'Sullivan and Hendry are equal on 36 ranking events apiece with O'Sullivan overhauling the Scot's 775 career centuries to become the most prolific scorer in history. The Essex man is the first man to pass the 1000 mark in tons.
"I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t annoy me," said Hendry to the Metro.
"I tried hard to create my own records when a lot of them belonged to (six-times champion) Steve Davis, so to see someone else beat yours, you’d be lying if you said there wasn’t a twinge of regret there.
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White: Even Hendry would tell you O’Sullivan is the greatest
"The thing is, with century breaks, maximums, ranking tournaments, these sorts of things are automatically going to be broken, it’s not if but when.
"But obviously the big one is the World Championship, and if Ronnie can manage to win another three remains to be seen.
"Of course I’d be hoping he falls short."
O'Sullivan returns to action at the Championship League which begins on Monday behind closed doors in Milton Keynes.
O'Sullivan has been drawn in Group 10 and will face Chris Wakelin, Michael Georgiou and Kishan Hirani on Friday 5 June.
Snooker's Multiple World Champions
- Joe Davis (England)
- 15 – 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1946
- Fred Davis (England)
- 8 – 1948, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956
- John Pulman (England)
- 8 – 1957, 1964, 1964, 1965, 1965, 1965, 1966, 1968
- Stephen Hendry (Scotland)
- 7 – 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999
- Steve Davis (England)
- 6 – 1981, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1989
- Ray Reardon (Wales)
- 6 – 1970, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978
- Ronnie O'Sullivan (England)
- 5 – 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013
- John Higgins (Scotland)
- 4 – 1998, 2007, 2009, 2011
- Mark Williams (Wales)
- 3 – 2000, 2003, 2018
- Mark Selby (England)
- 3 – 2014, 2016, 2017
- John Spencer (England)
- 3 – 1969, 1971, 1977
- Walter Donaldson (Scotland)
- 2 – 1947, 1950
- Alex Higgins (Northern Ireland)
- 2 – 1972, 1982
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