Stephen Hendry might be struggling at the moment, but it would appear that his eyesight is not to blame as he looks ahead to his 40th birthday next Tuesday…
Stephen told the Daily Record:
“I got my eyes tested just to check that everything was okay.
“My dad wears glasses so I thought there was no harm in checking.
“My wife, Mandy, told me to go and do it just to be sure. Thankfully everything was fine. They said nothing was wrong with my eyes.
“You do worry as you get older because your eyesight can deteriorate but I’m still potting balls in practice and I feel I can compete at the top level.”
“I’ve always regarded the Masters as the second-biggest tournament on the calendar. I enjoy playing at Wembley.
“The only thing that’s really changed for me is that sometimes I don’t get the nerves I used to have before a big match. You need that edge sometimes.
“I don’t have the will to practise for eight or nine hours a day like I used to but I’ve still got the enthusiasm to win titles. I still enjoy playing.”
It is funny that this story has come to light now as I was wondering the other day whether something might be wrong with his eyes. Having watched almost all of Hendry’s matches over the last few years, one thing I have noticed is that whenever he has to play an extremely thin safety shot, more often than not he seems to miss it at the first attempt. Luckily though it seems that it is nothing to do with his eyes and hopefully that is one less thing for him to worry about at the moment.
Hopefully he will put on a good show next Wednesday against Neil Robertson, though he will have to play much better than he did in the Championship League this week where his struggles continued…