Robertson says Hendry at ‘crossroads’ after defeat

Neil Robertson, Australia’s reigning world champion, said Stephen Hendry’s career was at a “crossroads” after beating the snooker great in the Masters tournament at Wembley on Wednesday.

And Hendry himself reckoned he might have played his last match at the Masters, an event he’s won six times, after a 6-3 first round loss to Melbourne-born Robertson.

Hendry, seven times the world champion, won five consecutive Masters crowns from 1989-1993 before also taking the 1996 title.

But Robertson said the 42-year-old Scot was a totally different player from the one who dominated snooker two decades ago.

“Stephen doesn’t have the same aura he used to,” Robertson explained.

“He is at a crossroads because he can’t accept playing like this for much longer,” the 28-year-old left-hander added.

“His cue action has changed so much compared to how it was in the 1990s, it’s like watching a different player. He has a lot of flaws technically. Once you start messing around with your cue action it can be dangerous.”

Only players in the top 16 are guaranteed automatic entry to leading snooker tournaments although the Masters does have some flexibility in that it is an invitational event.

Hendry is currently 14th in the rankings and a slide out of the top 16 would see him having to qualify for this year’s World Championship, rather than go straight into the first round draw.

Defeat by Robertson meant he’d now lost in the first round of the Masters for four successive years and Hendry said: “This could be my last time here, which would be very sad as I’ve had great success in this tournament.

“I’ve got a really important second half of the season to try to stay in the top 16. I just need results because I’m in danger of having to qualify for the Crucible.

“The form is still there in practice – I had six centuries in a row last week which I’ve never done before in my life.”

But he added: “I made it too easy for Neil because of the unforced errors.”

Robertson plays Mark Allen in the quarter-finals today.