White: I gave Hendry a head start of cocaine and whiskey in final defeats
➤ Londoner admits drugs and booze led to Crucible heartache ➤ Veterans face each other once more in world qualifying contest
Jimmy White has a typically colourful explanation for his poor record against Stephen Hendry at the World Championship.
After the pair were drawn together in the first round of qualifying on Tuesday week, White looked back at his four final defeats by Hendry in the Nineties and said: “In those days, I was giving him a head start of about 10 grams of cocaine and four bottles of Jack Daniel’s.”
Both might now be in their fifties and well past their prime – Hendry returned to the circuit only this month – but their reunion promises to be a red-letter occasion.
White lost four finals to Hendry between 1990 and 1994. “I have beaten Stephen in the World Championship a couple of times, but unfortunately they aren’t the ones everyone talks about,” he said.
While Hendry clocked up a record seven titles, White won none.
White’s free-spirited playing style was an endearing contrast to Hendry’s clinical approach, but the fact he was just as much a “Whirlwind” in his private life ultimately proved decisive in denying him a title.
In his autobiography, White, 58, claimed: “I am lucky to be alive … I know drugs probably cost me 10 world titles.”
Speaking after this week’s draw, he said: “I came close in winning two of the finals. In 1992, at 14-8, I was getting my winning speech ready, but lost the next 10 frames.
“In 1994, I twitched a black in the decider at 17-17. But it is what it is,
and I might not have been here if I had won the World Championship the way I was.”
White and Hendry’s rivalry was always friendly – the Scot had practised with White, six years his senior, when he was 13, and left an indelible impression even then.
“I knew he was something special straight away and he became one of the greatest players the game has seen,” White said. “I played the majority of my best years against legends, two of the best in Steve Davis and Stephen.”
Either player would need to win four matches to get back to the Crucible. Hendry’s last appearance was in 2012, while White has not reached Sheffield since 2006, but the Londoner’s head is still spinning that fate has taken a hand, and given him a chance of some revenge.
“I didn’t even see the draw,” he said. “I had just finished practising, turned my phone on and saw that I had two missed calls from Stephen.
“That on its own wasn’t too strange, because we had been practising together. I called him back, he said, ‘Can you believe that.’ Then I knew.
“It is bizarre, something from the snooker gods. But I haven’t stopped practising for about two or three years now. I’m much more disciplined than I used to be.”