Stephen Hendry offers advice to snooker prospect: ‘Completely the wrong thing to say’

Stephen Hendry has urged top British prospect Stan Moody to keep his cool against different styles of play, remembering how he got frustrated in his early days as a professional.

Moody only turned 20 this week but has already made great strides in the game, currently ranked number 39 in the world.

That impressive ranking was helped by a quarter-final run at the recent British Open, where he beat Zhang Anda in a decider and then legendary four-time world champion John Higgins 4-2 in the last 16.

The Yorkshireman then suffered a 5-2 defeat to Liam Highfield in the last eight and Hendry felt his attitude let him down.

The seven-time world champ likes plenty about Moody’s personality, but feels he needs to improve on his mindset when things are not going as he would like.

‘I wasn’t happy with his attitude in the match he lost to Highfield,’ Hendry told WST’s Snooker Club podcast. ‘I don’t know whether the speed at which Highfield was playing was getting to Moody but every time the camera went to him in his chair the body language wasn’t great.

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‘He’s got something about him that I like. He’s cocky, which you need, I don’t mind cocky at all but you’ve got to realise that other players are entitled to play how they want to play. It’s just about you and the table, forgetting what your opponent’s doing.’

Hendry is not surprised to see this attitude in the great prospect, remembering being very similar himself and almost cringing at how he behaved in his younger days, especially when he took on older players with a more defensive style of play.

‘I was the same myself,’ he said. ‘I turned pro very young at 16, then I’m playing against Rex Williams who was still playing.

‘I beat him, but I was acting in the chair like this was boring: “What’s this guy doing? It’s a different game to how I play.”

‘I actually said in the press conference -that was completely the wrong thing to say, it was like a spoiled brat – “Why is this old man playing like this when I want to pot the balls?”

‘You’ve got to quickly get out of that and just think that these guys are there for a reason because they’re bloody good players. Whether they play the game differently to you, they’re still great, great snooker players and you’ve got to find a way to beat them.’

Another impressive British prospect making his way up the rankings is Liam Davies, who is having an excellent season so far.

Also 20 years old, the Welshman has beaten the likes of Ding Junhui, Gary Wilson, world champion Wu Yize and Barry Hawkins already this campaign.

He made the English Open quarter-finals last week, but it was the win 4-1 over Hawkins at the British Open that caught Hendry’s eye.

‘He beat Barry Hawkins 4-1 and he plays the way he looks, mature,’ said the Scot. ‘He looks immaculate, immaculately dressed, turned out. I think it’s quite an important part of it, to look good. That can be almost an intimidation for an opponent as well. If you think, “God he looks good, looks comfortable.”

‘His cue ball control was what impressed me against Hawkins. On Table One you see young players come in and their cue ball is all over the shop, but he looked the part, to me.’

Davies is back in action on Tuesday afternoon when he takes on Fan Zhengyi in Northern Ireland Open qualifying, before facing Anthony McGill on Saturday as he looks to qualify for the International Championship.

Moody looks to book a spot in Belfast on Wednesday against Yao Pengcheng before playing women’s world champion Panchaya Channoi on Saturday in the International Championship.

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