Seven-time world snooker champion Stephen Hendry has spoken of his relief when Ronnie O'Sullivan matched his record last year, but admitted he didn't want the Rocket to draw level with his accomplishment.
Scottish player Hendry was unstoppable during the 1990s winning seven titles and spent eight consecutive seasons as world No.1.
Hendry has seen some of his records beaten by O'Sullivan but until last season held the record for most world championship wins. However, after holding the record for 23 years, the Golden Boy had a sense of relief when O'Sullivan beat Judd Trump to match his record at last year's world snooker championships.
“Once it happened, it was almost kind of a relief,” said Hendry talking on the World Snooker Tour podcast. “I can't explain it.
“It almost took the pressure off me kind of thing, not that I'm under pressure to do anything. But it was a strange feeling I had. Maybe not that night, because there's still a little bit of sadness that he equalled my record.
“Then a week or so afterwards, I was like, ‘OK, he's got the mantle now to live up to. It was almost like that."
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After winning six world titles in seven years, Hendry's form became less consistent before winning his seventh world title in 1999. The star came close to an eighth crown losing the 2002 World Championship final by a deciding frame to Peter Ebdon.
While Hendry admitted to being relieved when O'Sullivan finally matched his record the 54-year-old wasn't cheering for the Rocket in last year's final.
“I didn’t want Ronnie to equal my record and I don’t want him to beat my record, why would I?” Hendry added. “You put all that work in to get the record, but if he does then fair play because he's taken the game to another level. He's an absolutely wonderful snooker player.”
While the Rocket shot to stardom, Hendrie's struggled to match his previous form during the 2000s and the Scottish star retired in 2012. He excited fans by accepting a wildcard to return to the pro tour in 2020 but was left frustrated by the label 'comeback'.
Instead Hendrie says the wildcard offers him a chance to pick and choose entering some tournaments rather than competing at every event. However, this did cause some problems when he was fined by snooker bosses after pulling out of tournaments for TV filming as he performed as the character 'Rubbish' on ITV show The Masked Singer on Saturday night/
