Mark Selby has reacted to Stephen Hendry’s glowing praise after the snooker legend said The Jester could beat anyone in his pomp, including seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan
Mark Selby has played down Stephen Hendry’s claim that The Jester could beat any snooker player in the world at his best.
Selby, the world No. 5, has had to share the limelight with stars like Judd Trump, Kyren Wilson, and Mark Allen in recent years. Yet seven-time world champion Hendry is convinced Selby, 41, has what it takes to triumph over anyone when he’s operating at the top of his game.
That includes Ronnie O’Sullivan according to Hendry, if they were all playing to their full potential, mainly because of his unmatched safety play. “I’m including anyone, including O’Sullivan as well,” Hendry said on his Cue Tips YouTube channel.
“I think if they play their best against each other Mark Selby wins more than Ronnie. His safety game is like no other and he scores so heavily when he’s at his best.”
But while Selby appreciated Hendry’s high praise, he chose to stay humble by not agreeing with the snooker legend’s comments. “One of my friends sent me the clip. It’s a huge statement coming from him, but I don’t know, that’s for him to say,” Selby told the Metro.
“People always ask me if I class myself as one of the all-time greats. While I’m still playing and involved in the game then I don’t see it like that. I just feel as though I’m just another player, just another number.
“Until I retire and look back on what I’ve achieved, I’ll probably sit down and think to myself you know what, the boy from a council estate with no money in his pocket done good. But as it is at the moment I’ll still keep trying every match and try to win as many tournaments as I can possibly win.”
The four-time world champion from Leicester has spoken candidly in recent times about battling depression after his wife Vikki’s breast cancer diagnosis in 2023. He also lost a close family friend to the same illness in the same year.
Selby was abandoned by his mother aged eight and lost his father to cancer when he was just 16, before channelling his focus into snooker. But while he admitted such a huge compliment coming from Hendry does carry more weight, he wasn’t willing to go on the record and make the same claim.
“Stuff like that does give you a massive boost, but it is just an opinion, it doesn’t mean anything really,” Selby added. “It means a lot to me because it’s coming from one of the greats of the game. But you ask someone else on the tour and they’d probably say completely different.
“So it’s a matter of opinion, but it’s not from Joe Bloggs who’s never played the game. It’s from someone who’s competed at the top level and knows how tough the game is. It’s a massive compliment coming from someone like Stephen, for sure.”