Stephen Hendry Says He Can't Say What He Wants Live on BBC
Stephen Hendry said on coverage of the World Snooker Championship that he “can’t say what I want to say” after John Higgins completed his 13-12 win over Ronnie O'Sullivan on Monday night. The remark came after Higgins had fought back from 8-3 down and then held his nerve in the deciding frame.
Hendry, a seven-time world champion, was reacting live to a shot that summed up the finish. After Higgins sank a tricky red, he said: “Can’t say what I want to say, but that courage is unbelievable. To cue that, is incredible.”
Hendry, Higgins and O'Sullivan
The match carried extra weight because Hendry and O'Sullivan are level on seven World Championship titles. Higgins’ comeback denied O'Sullivan the chance to move ahead in that race and sent the four-time world champion into the last eight.
The deciding frame gave the commentary its sharpest edge. John Parrott said the session was one of the best ever seen at the Crucible, adding: “We have all been going mad, I’ve got sweaty palms and I’m not even playing because we have all been there, we have all been out there. That’s one of the greatest sessions of snooker ever played in this place and we have been here since 1977.”
Higgins turns the match
Higgins’ path back was built over three sessions. He said afterwards that he was “just delighted I came to the party in the third session, because the first two sessions, how I was only 9-7 behind, I’ll never know.” He added that the turnaround started with refusing to fold when he trailed 6-2: “It was just about not giving up. At 6-2 behind, I said to the family ‘I’ve got to win the next two sessions’. I wasn’t having any negative thoughts.”
That resolve carried him through to the finish, where he described O'Sullivan’s ball-striking as sharp throughout and said, “Ronnie played amazing in that game, his cue ball control. I’ve played him for years and I thought he was striking it great.”
Crucible pressure
For Hendry, the live reaction captured the strain of a match that turned frame by frame. For Higgins, it was a 13-12 victory built on one of the sport’s biggest stages, and for O'Sullivan it ended a push for an eighth Crucible crown in this match. The final red in the deciding frame left the commentary team searching for words, and Hendry found only one way to answer the moment: he could not say what he really wanted to say.
