Ronnie O’Sullivan has heaped praise on Stephen Hendry, comparing the Scotsman’s transformative role in snooker to global game-changers such as Tiger Woods and Usain Bolt. Chatting with ex-footballer Ally McCoist on TNT Sports, O’Sullivan described Hendry as “fearless” and credited him with revolutionising the way the sport is played.
“My first hero was Steve Davis. I modelled my game on him as a kid, just watching him on TV,” O’Sullivan explained. “Then obviously Stephen Hendry came along and blew it all apart.
“A bit like Tiger Woods and Usain Bolt did. He just played a different game. So we all had to follow his way of playing if you wanted to become a winner and a champion.”
According to the 49-year-old, Hendry was unique in his aggressive, no-holds-barred approach. “Hendry was just fearless, you know? He didn’t have any safety game. He didn’t need it, he was that good,” O’Sullivan said.
“”Hendry’s mindset was, ‘if it’s the first to 10, I’m going to make 10 80-breaks’ – so it doesn’t matter what you do.”
That level of self-assurance, O’Sullivan believes, intimidated opponents and often forced mistakes. “That confidence in himself to just clear the table, and that obviously puts a lot of fear into your opponent. Then you start getting easy chances left because of the pressure your opponent’s under.”
Hendry’s bold, relentless tactics marked a clear departure from the more measured, defensive style of earlier stars like Davis. “Davis would make a 50 or a 40, play it safe, and that was enough at that time,” O’Sullivan explained. “But when Hendry came along, it wasn’t enough.”
As O’Sullivan approaches the 2025 World Championship, he finds himself one title away from breaking the joint record of seven he shares with 56-year-old Hendry. Victory in Sheffield would crown him the greatest world champion of the modern era, statistically-speaking.
Despite this, O’Sullivan dismissed the idea that he ever inspired fear in rivals the way Hendry did. “No, I don’t think so. I don’t think I’ve ever been the most confident,” he told McCoist.
“I know I’ve got ability and I know that if I play good when I’m out there, I feel confident, but in the build-up, I have a lot of self-doubt. At no point did I think ‘I’ve got this, I’m the man to beat’. I never, ever thought that.”
He continued: “As a kid, I was very confident and had a lot of self-belief in my technique. It was so rock-solid that I used to wake up and think, ‘I’m going to be nine out of 10 today’. Then as I got later into my career, I got a lot of bad habits.”
O’Sullivan is still considered a dominant presence on the circuit, but his current performance has been underwhelming. He’s claimed only one win from his last nine contests and has spoken publicly about ongoing struggles with confidence.
Further complicating matters, he has not yet confirmed whether he’ll compete in this month’s championship, having skipped multiple events earlier in the year.
Nevertheless, with the Crucible on the horizon, O’Sullivan has the chance to take centre stage once more – and perhaps finally surpass the man Hendry as the arena’s undisputed king.
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