Twelve months ago the two men who are for me snooker’s greatest ever players met in the first round of the UK Championship in Telford. This year however the competition has seen Steve crash out during the final qualifying round and lose his place in the top 32, while Hendry faces the possibility of being relegated from the top 16 by arch-rival Jimmy White.
Could this tournament come to symbolise the beginning of the end for the legendary duo or will they both be on our screens for some time to come?
Just months ago Steve Davis was on his way to causing one of the greatest ever upsets at the Crucible, defeating John Higgins, still arguably the best player in the world, to reach the quarter-finals of the World Championship in Sheffield. In particular the form that he displayed during the first session of that match was sensational and he reminded everyone in the arena that night of just what he is still capable of on his day, when fully motivated on the big stage.
Unfortunately for Steve however, those days have during the past couple of seasons have become less and less frequent and as a result of some early exits during the PTC events, often from winning positions, his 9-2 defeat to Mark Joyce yesterday meant that he will fall out of the top 32 following the next seedings revision and have to win two matches to qualify for the Welsh Open and German Masters events.
At 53 years of age, Steve has been written off more times during the last 15 years than I can keep track of and he does not need people like me to tell him that he is not the player that he once was during the 1980’s. Despite that fact however, every now and again he has somehow managed to find his very best form to remind everybody just why he is one of the legends of the game. That Masters title in 1997, that UK final in 2005 and that run in Sheffield this May, all runs that captured the imagination not just of snooker fans, but of the public at large.
This is however the first time that he has fallen outside of the top 32 in all his years on the tour and with so many players now coming into the events match-sharp having competed during the PTC, things are not going to get any easier for Davis. The fact that he has to win two matches is not necessarily a big problem for him per se, but the calibre of opposition that he will have to face in the final qualifying round now having lost his seeded status will make it harder still for Steve to qualify for the venues.
Which for me begs the question, will Steve continue to enjoy the game as much as he does if he were to qualify for even fewer venues than he has been used to for the past few seasons? Steve has often been asked about when he will retire and has always given the same answer, stating that he would only consider doing so should he not be competitive or taking enjoyment from the game, neither of which have applied as of yet. Despite his unquestionable love for the game however, I do wonder whether he would quite enjoy playing so much if he were no longer able to be involved at the venue stages of events.
It will certainly be interesting to see how Steve gets on during the remainder of 2010/11 and given the form that he showed at the Crucible in April, I am certainly not about to write him off just yet.
So what of Stephen Hendry?
Long-term readers of the blog will know that I am personally a big fan of Stephen’s and therefore the majority of his matches during the past 18 months have been somewhat uncomfortable viewing.
Like Davis, Stephen has not consistently produced the form that took him to seven world titles during the 1990’s for some time now. During the last couple of years however his results have worsened to the extent that not only is he not now competing for titles, but he is on the brink of losing the top sixteen status that he has held for a record 22 and a half consecutive seasons.
Why is this the case? When presented with a straightforward opportunity in and around the black spot I still think that he looks as good as ever and this is partly the reason why he was able to win each of his first round matches on the tour last season to at least secure him a reasonable haul of ranking points coming into this campaign.
One problem now however is for me when he comes up against the top players in the game and is forced to attempt to create a chance himself, for example with an opening long red. More often than not these have not been going in like they once were and he has been leaving his opponents in amongst the balls. His confidence in the arena is visibly not nearly as high as it once was and he does not dominate the table with that trademark swagger of old.
His heavy defeat at the hands of Mark Selby at the Crucible this year was one that for me summed up Stephen’s game at the moment and more recently his fortunes have not particularly improved in either the PTC events or the two majors staged.
As a result, he now stands 15th on my provisional seedings list and with players snapping at his heels this week, faces the very real possibility of losing his top 16 status should he fall foul of old foe Jimmy White in Telford who having fallen way down the rankings himself is now playing some fabulous snooker and for me goes into their match with every chance of winning it.
While I would certainly not write off Stephen by any means, indeed a match such as this could be just what he needs in order to turn his season around, let us just for a moment consider what may happen should he lose it and with it his place inside the top 16.
On the one hand it goes without saying that the result would be a nightmare for Stephen, being in a position where he will be required to qualify for the venue stages of the ranking events which he has made his own for the past 25 years. His form in the cubicles during the PTC events has been patchy to say the least and there have been many great champions who have struggled badly to make the transition into playing in a cubicle without the TV cameras and the crowds that he is so accustomed to. Ken Doherty was one such player who struggled with exactly this during 2009/10 in which he won just two matches and then lost his place inside the top 32 as a result. The same could very easily happen to Stephen.
On the other however, Stephen is in the position where he has little to defend from the 2009 Welsh Open having lost there to Martin Gould in the opening round and so assuming he were able to perform reasonably well during the next couple of tournaments this season, he would be well in contention to bounce straight back into the top 16 at the next cut-off. Just ask Peter Ebdon how this can work out!
Indeed the fluidity of the rankings these days under the new system may well mean that we see players regularly moving in and out of the top 16, ultimately fighting for places at the Crucible following this season’s Welsh Open. Falling out of the top 16 is not nearly as significant as it was prior to this season’s changes.
A lot of questions then and only time will give us the answers, both for Davis and for Hendry. Much like this very event back in 1990 which saw the ‘changing of the guard’ moment when the Scot defeated his great rival 16-15, perhaps this tournament could be that which just marks the beginning of the end for both players.
I sincerely hope that this proves not to be the case for both.