Filed under: Other Sports, Snooker
Stephen Hendry was keen to seek out Bernhard Langer after his exit from the UK Championship, but it wasn't simply for a restorative round to boost the golf-loving Scot's spirits after his 9-6 defeat by Mark Williams.The 41-year-old, a single-figure handicapper who lives near Gleneagles, led 5-3 against one of his closest friends in the game, but familiar failings returned to cost him a place in the last eight as he again fell foul of another dose of the snooker 'yips'.
A condition more prevalent in golf, seven-times World Champion Hendry's place in the top 16 is increasingly under threat from a malaise likened to problems with hooking and cutting on the fairway and putting issues on the green, caused by deficiencies in delivery of the cue.
It's hard to imagine pehaps the greatest player the game has ever seen being struck down by such an affliction, but he admitted: "I think I'd better go and talk to Bernhard Langer to see how he got over his dose of the yips because that's what it feels like I've got," Hendry admitted after coming out second best in a match low on quality but neverthless packed with bags of tension and excitement. For the contest's first eight frames, Welshman Williams' highest break was a modest 24.
As far as Hendry is concerned, it's all a far cry from the 1990s when he crushed the life out of opponents with monotonously high scoring, missing virtually nothing in a decade of dominance, a repeat of which is unlikely to be seen in the sport again.
The five-times UK Champion spurned a simple final black in frame 15 to sum up his malaise, and he added: "I almost wish I wouldn't play well in the occasional frame, as it just shows what I'm still capable of." Williams, UK Champion in 1999 and 2002, plays Mark Joyce, 9-7 conqueror of Bristol's Judd Trump, for a place in the semi-finals.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: http://www.fanhouse.co.uk/2010/12/08/snooker-worried-stephen-hendry-seeks-a-cure-for-the-yips/
Steven Gerrard Thierry Henry Thomaz Bellucci Tim Clark Tomas Berdych
No comments:
Post a Comment