Stephen Hendry has had his fair share of awkward interviews, both during and after his career, and had to apologise to a snooker player for his “out of order” comments
Stephen Hendry once had to apologise to another snooker star for making “out of order” comments after a defeat. Snooker icon Hendry was known for his prickly post-match interviews during his illustrious career, which he puts down to being a bad loser.
The seven-time world champion’s distaste for post-match interviews was evident throughout his 31-year professional career, especially when speaking immediately after a defeat. And the Scot recently recalled one particular interview that he still regrets.
Hendry was on the receiving end of a 9-0 thrashing by fellow Scot Marcus Campbell at the 1998 UK Championship, after which he took an unnecessary swipe at the Dumbarton Destroyer. Opening up about his regrets on the Snooker Club podcast, he said: “If you lose a match, then you’re basically straight into a press room, and you don’t get a chance to sort of cool down or calm down.
“I’ve done two or three interviews after I’ve lost where I’ve basically just answered every question in one word. Yes or no. I was such a bad loser. Going back to my 9-0 hammering from Marcus Campbell, I did a press conference after it. They asked about my opponent and if he was good.
“I said I was terrible, he was all right but he’s not going to win the tournament. I was very disparaging about him and I went to apologise to him at the next tournament because I was out of order.”
He also confessed that he was wrong to have reacted poorly to journalists who were simply doing their jobs. Now that he’s taken on the role of a pundit for the BBC and ITV, Hendry admits that being on the other side of the microphone isn’t any easier for him.
Hendry explained: “I was asked to do two loser interviews at the Masters, which I’ve never done before. It was horrific. I didn’t know what to say or what to ask. I’ve never been in that mentality, I know how I’ve felt having lost a match and I kept wondering what to say.
“The first one I did was Chris Wakelin lost. I’ve got a microphone and I forgot to put the microphone to him when he was speaking, so I had to start again. I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, he must think who is this guy?’
“If I was Chris Wakelin I’d have thought, ‘Sod this, I’m off, you don’t even know how to interview someone.’ I found that really weird doing a loser interview. Hopefully, I did it badly enough they won’t ask me to do it again.”
Despite his own history of not taking defeats well, Hendry described current world champion Kyren Wilson as a “bad loser” in February. But he went on to say that being a bad loser is actually a positive trait, stating: “I don’t like seeing good losers.
“There’s a saying, ‘If you show me a good loser, you’re a loser.’ I think in sport there’s a lot to that. I don’t mind the fact he’s a bad loser. I think that’s the only way to be.”
Wilson ruffled feathers with his comments after his Masters final defeat, calling opponent Shaun Murphy an “old man” and stating that The Magician needed the win more than he did.
Despite losing, Wilson boldly claimed he demonstrated “why I’m the world champion” after staging a comeback during the match, where he managed to close the gap before a 10-7 defeat. His self-assured comments drew criticism from snooker fans and fellow players alike.