Snooker news: Stephen Hendry – 'Winning machine' Neil Robertson will be judged on world titles
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ByEurosport
Updated 16/02/2022 at 12:42 GMT
Stephen Hendry has described Neil Robertson as an "almost unplayable winning machine" but believes he needs to add to his solitary world title victory in 2010. The seven-time world champion hailed the Australian as the greatest player in the game on current form following his 10-5 victory over Barry Hawkins in the Players Championship final on Sunday night in Wolverhampton.
The moment Neil Robertson won the Masters
Stephen Hendry has described Neil Robertson as the best player on planet snooker, but believes he needs to prove it by becoming a multiple world champion.
Seven-time Crucible winner Hendry watched on in awe as Robertson claimed his third major trophy of the season following triumphs at the English Open and Masters by filleting an unfortunate Barry Hawkins 10-5 in a Players Championship final brimming with astonishing quality in Wolverhampton.
World No 9 Hawkins also lost 10-4 to Robertson in the Masters final last month, but performed at a higher level to recover from 5-1 and 7-3 behind to trail 7-5 on Sunday, but was ultimately rendered helpless as Robertson's scoring power and long potting held the key to a dominant victory.
"I don't think I did much wrong, Neil was in devastating form today," said Hawkins, who made his 400th career century with a run of 137. "When someone is playing like that, especially Neil, it is hard to keep hold of him. He played fantastic all day really."
Hawkins also rolled in breaks of 91, 55 and 61, but was left to admire the quality of Robertson's fare as rousing contributions of 107, 105, 130, 58, 64, 54, 116, 51 and 69 saw him collect the trophy and the £125,000 winner's cheque.
"He exudes confidence and is a serial winner," said Hendry. "Who is going to stop him? Neil Robertson is proving why he is the best player in the world by winning titles. He's got everything at the moment. He's almost unplayable.
"You could argue, okay he went 1-0 down and from then on he was leading the final, but also his front running which means the other guy has got the diffIcult job of chasing in a match...he's got everything.
His long potting is so good consistently over a season that it creates so many scoring chances. That is why he scores so heavily, he gets in so often from his unbelievable long potting.
"His safety you can't really say is a weakness. I don't think he is as good as some with the rest, but that is a minor part of the game.
"That doesn't really come into the equation. He's got everything and that hunger to break records."
World No 4 Robertson celebrated turning 40 on Friday by hitting three successive centuries of four in the final as he joined Judd Trump on 22 ranking title victories, the sixth most prodigious tournament winners in snooker history.
Despite his latest title which has witnessed him clasp a professional title every year since 2006, Hendry believes the Melburnian has underachieved on the sport's grandest stage.
He claimed his solitary world crown with an 18-13 win over Graeme Dott 12 years ago, but has only once been back to the one-table set-up in a 17-15 semi-final defeat to Mark Selby in 2014.
“I don’t like the venue, from a technical point of view it’s very difficult for me to walk into my shot properly, it’s actually almost impossible to do,” said Robertson after victory in the 48th Masters final last month.
To get to the one-table set-up I need to negotiate that and it’s something that I have to work on.
Hendry believes it is the one obvious blight on the landscape of an otherwise magnificent career.
"The one little thing I think he has to look at is world championships," said Hendry. "He's an underachiever. He's only won one. For how good he is, he should have won more.
I'm singling out world championships because when everybody looks back at a career, that is what they look at.
"In terms of everything else, he has just become a winning machine."
In 35 ranking finals, Robertson has lifted 22 with two Masters and two Champion of Champion trophies justifying his standing as the greatest non-British player to pick up a cue.
"What separates the best from the rest is that hunger, that winning mentality," said Hendry. "Neil's strike rate is just phenomenal in finals."
Robertson returns to action when he faces Lei Peifan in the first round of the European Masters at 7pm on Monday 21 February LIVE on Eurosport.
All-time top 10 ranking event winners
- Ronnie O'Sullivan 38
- Stephen Hendry 36
- John Higgins 31
- Steve Davis 28
- Mark Williams 24
- Neil Robertson 22
- Judd Trump 22
- Mark Selby 20
- Ding Junhui 14
- Jimmy White 10
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