Hendry urges the modest McGill to believe in himself
STEPHEN HENDRY believes Anthony McGill should forget about following in the footsteps of Scotland’s snooker legends.
And the seven-time world champion has encouraged the 29-year-old from Glasgow to ignore the pressure of trying to be the nation’s next great hope and focus on winning titles on a regular basis instead.
McGill was locked in a thrilling World Championship battle with Kyren Wilson at the Crucible, with the Englishman forging 13-11 ahead in their best-of-33 semi-final encounter by the end of the evening’s play.
But, having spoken recently about how he doesn’t yet feel worthy of his country’s snooker ‘dynasty’, including practice partners John Higgins and Stephen Maguire, Hendry said: ‘I think you just need to not pay any attention to that sort of thing.
‘It’s going be very difficult for players like Anthony and Scott Donaldson to follow on from myself and John Higgins winning all these World Championships.
‘And then you’ve got Stephen Maguire winning ranking tournaments and even Alan McManus winning tournaments and being up there.
‘I don’t think they can afford to think they have to carry on that dynasty. You’ve just got to be your own player.’
Reflecting on the Scot’s selfeffacing comments ahead of his first-ever semi final appearance at the Crucible, Hendry added: ‘I think he’s pretty down-to-earth about his abilities. In one way that’s a good thing, but then on the flip side if you keep telling yourself you’re not as good as someone then that’s not a good state of mind to go into a match with someone.
‘You can’t be in awe of people and think you’re not as good if you want to compete. You’ve just got to set your heights a bit higher.
‘It also depends what his ambitions are in the game. You have to have ambitions and goals.
‘If he doesn’t feel as though he’s good enough to win, and he feels he’s happy enough in a certain ranking position, then that’s where you’re going to stay.
‘I don’t really know him as a character, though, so it’s hard to criticise him because everyone is different.’
Never short of confidence himself, Hendry amassed an impressive haul of 36 ranking titles during his illustrious career.
McGill, by his own admission, has confessed he doesn’t class himself in the same bracket as any of Scotland’s successful players.
Hendry, Higgins and Graeme Dott share 12 world titles between them, while Maguire and McManus share eight ranking tournaments.
‘He’s very solid and he’s obviously got a phenomenal temperament,’ said Hendry of McGill. ‘He came back from 8-2 behind to beat Jamie Clarke and he’s come through two tough deciders, so his temperament is not in question.
‘For me, it’s whether he can step it up and introduce some heavy scoring into the mix. I would have never tipped him to get to the semi-finals, but I’m sure a lot of other people wouldn’t as well.
‘He’s been in the top 16 before but he dropped down the rankings and been forgotten about.
‘When he got to the quarterfinals of the World Championships a few years back I think a lot of people expected him to hang around the top 16 for a long time.
‘But for whatever reason he dropped away, so no one would have tipped him to get this far.
‘You look at his side of the draw. There was John Higgins, Mark Allen and Judd Trump, so it’s a good achievement getting this far.
‘To be frank, he’s got to the semifinal without playing any sparkling snooker.
‘He hasn’t made a century break, which is unusual because that’s the norm these days. All the players are heavy scorers.
‘He reminds me of John Parrott, he’s an old-school player. He just does everything well, but nothing spectacularly well.’
Meanwhile, Mark Selby gave tournament favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan plenty to think about in their second session yesterday.
Trailing 5-3 overnight, Selby reeled off four frames in a row to lead by two before ending the day 9-7 ahead.
It was a consummate display by the man from Leicester as he frustrated O’Sullivan time and again with his shrewd tactical play. They play to a finish over two sessions today.