Stephen Hendry has given an insight into his relationship with Steve Davis, admitting that the former rivals now spend time criticising snooker stars together. The pair, who dominated the sport in the 1980s and 1990s, now work as pundits for the BBC.
Davis, 68, was the face of snooker throughout the 1980s, winning six World Snooker Championship titles and reaching eight finals. He held the world number one spot for seven consecutive years before being succeeded by Hendry in 1990. The Scotsman went on to win seven world titles, a record he shares with Ronnie O'Sullivan.
From Rivals to Friends
The competitive rivalry between Hendry and Davis meant they did not always have a close relationship. Davis has previously admitted to feeling bitterness towards the seven-time world champion after losing the 1990 UK Championship final. However, Hendry has revealed that their dynamic changed over time.
“Over the years, we became closer,” Hendry wrote on CueTipsPlus. “As we started to go down in our careers we both became friendlier with other people. We started talking more and we’d sometimes spend time slagging off the other players. It sounds evil, but it was all done with a dry sense of humour, which is what Steve is known for.”
Awe and Admiration
Hendry admitted he was initially in awe of Davis, modelling his own dedication to the sport on his rival. “Steve didn’t speak to anyone. You’d walk past him at a tournament expecting a ‘hello’ and it never came. If you sat in a room with other top players, they would talk about Steve as if he was above them. I remember thinking, I’d really like to be talked about like that one day,” he said.
Now 57, Hendry describes Davis as having a “brilliant sense of humour”. However, Davis confessed he struggled to see the funny side when Hendry began to overtake him. He viewed his 16-15 defeat in the 1990 UK Championship final as a passing of the torch and strongly disliked Hendry for most of the 1990s.
“One minute I had all the sweets locked up in my own little sweet jar, the next minute they were spilled on the floor and Stephen had them all,” Davis told O'Sullivan for Eurosport. “For most of the 90s I didn’t like him at all, hated him, hated the thought that he was better than me, I didn’t even want to acknowledge he existed.”
Davis praised Hendry for adopting a more philosophical approach when younger players like O'Sullivan and John Higgins emerged. “I think Stephen dealt with the likes of you and John Higgins coming along [better] than I did with him. He was quite philosophical about the fact that one day he wouldn’t be the best.”
