Mark Williams has taken a shot at Stephen Hendry for chuntering from the sidelines after the seven-time world champion criticised him for using a new cue in recent tournaments.
Williams said it was “easy in the commentary box” following Hendry’s criticism and took a dig at the Scot’s unsuccessful snooker comeback by suggesting that perhaps he should try a new cue himself.
The war of words – which is admittedly being conducted in a slightly jokey manner given the deadpan nature of their humour and existing friendship – began when Williams was surprisingly thumped 4-1 by world No 79 Rory Thor in the first round of the British Open last month.
While working as a pundit for ITV at the time, Hendry said: “It was a very, very poor performance. He’s using a new cue. I hope he was paid nicely because it’s going to derail his season. It’s going to take him a bit of getting used to. It sounded horrific and his play was horrific. It was very, very bad.”
Williams then fired the next shot in response to those comments by writing on X/Twitter: “Derail his season? What a tit, my season is already made.”
The Welshman is currently ranked at No 7 in the world and reached the final of the Saudi Arabia Masters in September, narrowly losing 10-9 in the final to the sport’s form player Judd Trump.
Williams is known for using a harder tip on the end of his cue than most players, meaning it makes a heavier sound when striking the cue ball. Since that shock defeat to Thor, the 49-year-old has thrashed Haris Tahir 6-0 in International Championship qualifying and saw off countryman Jamie Clarke 4-0 at the Northern Ireland Open on Tuesday.
Hendry, meanwhile, is one of the greatest snooker players of all time, with only Ronnie O’Sullivan matching the seven world titles he has won in the modern era. He dominated the sport throughout the 1990s and is still second on the all-time list of most ranking titles (with 36) despite retiring in 2012, since which he has become one of the most well-respected and forthright pundits in the sport.
The 55-year-old returned to the sport in 2020 but failed to make any real impact, getting knocked out either in qualifying or early on in every tournament he entered and eventually withdrawing from most events, before re-retiring earlier this year after admitting his performances were “embarrassing”.
And Williams cheekily commented on that failure to reignite their ‘feud’ after beating Clarke in Belfast.
“It’s easy in the commentary box isn’t it,” Williams deadpanned to Eurosport. “We’ve seen his comeback, how that ended up, so he can’t really say too much about my tip can he? Perhaps he should use one, might play a bit better.”
Williams will continue his Northern Ireland Open campaign on Wednesday evening against Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham, who has endured his own cue dramas this week after being forced to borrow Shaun Murphy’s cue for his 4-3 victory over Thepchaiya Un-Nooh on Tuesday after his didn’t arrive with him on the flight over.
