Snooker:Seven-time former world champion Stephen Hendry has abandoned retirement plans and revealed he will play on next season.
It was thought the Scottish player was giving serious consideration to quitting following his crushing 13-4 defeat to Mark Selby in Sheffield this year.
However Stuart Bingham’s defeat to Ding Junhui at the same stage means Bingham can now not knock Hendry out of the top 16.
Consequently Hendry will not have to go through qualifying for the early events of next season, which he intends to head into with full commitment.
“I’m going to play on, staying in the 16 was a big factor in the decision,” said Hendry. “I’m going to keep playing, I still love playing.
“If I’m going to play I’m going to have to give it 100 per cent, which means I’m going to have to play in all of the tournaments that I don’t like.
“There’s no point doing it half-hearted. I thought I was going to give it up, but I want to carry on.”
Hendry, 42, last won a major ranking tournament in 2005, with his success at the Malta Cup, and has not claimed any of the biggest prizes in the game the World Championship, Masters or UK Championship since his Crucible triumph in 1999.
Ronnie O'Sullivan has conceded he played like an amateur at times when crumbling to defeat against John Higgins yesterday. Higgins had trailed 8-5 during the afternoon session, which began at 4-4, and thought he was heading out of the tournament. But the Scot then won eight of 10 frames to tie up a 13-10 victory and pinpointed his opponent’s misses as the key factor in the way the match turned.
“I made far too many elementary mistakes which is unforgivable at this level, or any level, even amateur level,” O’Sullivan said. “I can’t sit here and say I deserved to win because I don’t think I did. I think I did well to get 10 frames.
O’Sullivan has benefited from linking up with sports psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters, and hopes there can be more positive results to come from their sessions.
“That’s still sub-standard snooker, but I wasn’t smashing myself to pieces out there. I felt like it, but I’ve worked on a couple of things which have made me want to not get too involved. Trust me, as a top sportsman who’s played this game, there are certain things that are unforgivable. Whether I can put them right, I don’t know. I’ve been trying for years and years.
“I might not be able to do it, but I’ve made steps forward this week and something could happen but we’ll have to wait and see. I’m in a better place, I feel happier, I feel better about life. It’s not the playing that was hard for me, it was the in-between bits, the thinking and pondering about playing.
“I know it’s not going to improve my game but if I can feel better about playing rubbish then I might hang around. I still want to play well. It’s a work-in progress thing, and if it means thinking great but playing like that, that isn’t good enough for me. But I’ll be patient with it.”