{"id":2234,"date":"2026-03-03T16:43:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T16:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news678.top\/?p=2234"},"modified":"2026-03-03T16:43:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T16:43:20","slug":"stephen-hendry-names-his-favourite-for-the-2026-world-snooker-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=2234","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Hendry names his favourite for the 2026 World Snooker Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"646\" height=\"431\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2259696391.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-27206961\" alt=\"WST World Grand Prix 2026\" decoding=\"sync\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Stephen Hendry likes the look of a four-time world champion at the Crucible (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Having won the World Snooker Championship seven times, Stephen Hendry knows a thing or two about conquering the Crucible and he likes the chances of another former champion this year.<\/p>\n<p>With a wide range of different winners on the World Snooker Tour this season, picking a winner in Sheffield looks like it is going to be tougher than ever.<\/p>\n<p>Barry Hawkins won the Welsh Open on Sunday night, becoming the 14th different winner of a ranking event this campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Those 14 winners don\u2019t include the likes of Kyren Wilson \u2013 who has won the non-ranking Masters and Shanghai Masters this season \u2013 Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan and John Higgins.<\/p>\n<p>With big events still to come at the World Open and Tour Championship before Sheffield, things could change, but right now Hendry likes the look of a man who has won three titles this season.<\/p>\n<p>Mark Selby landed the UK Championship in style in December and has also won the Champion of Champions and Championship League Invitational.<\/p>\n<p>His 63 centuries are more than any other player has managed so far this campaign and Hendry feels coupling scoring power with his immense safety game makes him favourite for the Crucible.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"431\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2250650992.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-25281118\" alt=\"2025 UK Championship - Day 9\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Mark Selby beat Judd Trump in the UK Championship final in York (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u2018I love watching Selby. I think Selby\u2019s a genius, always have done,\u2019 Hendry said on WST\u2019s Snooker Club podcast. \u2018One of the misinterpretations of the way he plays\u2026I think if he plays another negative player, he gets dragged into that kind of thing, but his safety play, he plays shots I could never think of.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018He\u2019s just an absolute genius. And what he\u2019s done this season is score. He\u2019s top of the centuries list, he\u2019s scored really heavily. <\/p>\n<p>\u2018If he can bring everything together the way he won the UK, for me he\u2019s still favourite for Sheffield, even though I think Xintong will go deep.\u2019<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify\">\n<p>\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Zhao &amp; Hawkins Reign Supreme, Abi Davies' Inspiring Story &amp; Mark Williams' Teabag Phobia?! \u2615\ufe0f | S3E17\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/1RsGsjkVK4NhH0gWazikkh?utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Indeed Hendry is also a huge fan of the current world champion, Zhao Xintong, who has been in sparkling form of late.<\/p>\n<p>The Cyclone won the World Grand Prix and Players Championship back-to-back, before a last 16 defeat to Stuart Bingham at the Welsh Open as he ran out of steam a bit.<\/p>\n<p>Hendry sees the opening game as defending champion as a huge challenge for Zhao, but if he can clear that hurdle then he will be difficult to stop in Sheffield.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"431\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2263049629.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-27060020\" alt=\"2026 Players Championship - Day 6\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Zhao Xintong has won three events since becoming world champion (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u2018Even though he didn\u2019t win last week, I think he\u2019s operating at a different level to everyone else,\u2019 Hendry said of the 28-year-old.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018There\u2019s obviously a couple of big ones to come. The World Open in China \u2013 there\u2019s always huge expectation on him for that one \u2013 and then the Tour Championship, which is long frame matches.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I think if he gets though the first round of the Crucible he can have a very deep run there. But if he were to win the World Open and the Tour Championship that might affect him. He\u2019s still young and fit, but it might affect him.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Sullivan will be a real wildcard at the World Championship this year, having not played a great deal this season and struggled for results when he has.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"431\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2259294401.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-27063866\" alt=\"WST World Grand Prix 2026\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan will bid to win a record eighth world title this year (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Rocket is in the draw for the World Open this month, but Hendry is not sure he is bothered about any ever other than the World Championship.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I think the way Ronnie lives his life now, I don\u2019t think he puts a lot of importance on much,\u2019 he said. \u2018He\u2019s stated publicly that the only thing he\u2019s interested in is trying to win an eighth world title. That\u2019s the only thing he seems to mention that gets his juices flowing. <\/p>\n<p>\u2018I think he\u2019ll turn up to the World Open and just see what happens. We all know how good he could play at his best. Can he do it over a sustained period of a whole week? That\u2019s the question. But I don\u2019t think he\u2019ll put a lot of importance on it, I don\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s not going to try! He\u2019s going to try. The Class of 92, they\u2019re such great competitors. Even if he\u2019s going there not that bothered if he wins or loses. When he puts his suit on, he\u2019ll be trying.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Snooker legend Mark Williams \u2018deadly serious\u2019 about bizarre phobia<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Zhao Xintong close to joining exclusive snooker club as winning run rolls on<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Mark Williams eyeing first Welsh triumph for 27 years despite \u2018going blind\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<section id=\"share-buttons-bottom\" class=\"share-buttons share-buttons-bottom\">\n\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Comment now<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-comment\" href=\"#social-comment\"\/><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-comments__label\">Comments<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-preferred-source\" href=\"#social-preferred-source\"\/><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-preferred-source__label\">Add as preferred source<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n<div class=\"newsletter-end-card accent--sport\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-end-card__inner\">\n<h4>Football Newsletter \u2013 In The Mixer<\/h4>\n<p>Punchy analysis, transfer talk and more from Metro&#8217;s football experts, sent straight to your inbox every week.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> Stephen Hendry names his favourite for the 2026 World Snooker Championship<br \/>\n<br \/>#Stephen #Hendry #names #favourite #World #Snooker #Championship<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stephen Hendry likes the look of a four-time world champion at the Crucible (Picture: Getty&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1766,1764,1763,324,1765,1762,920],"class_list":["post-2234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-championship","tag-favourite","tag-hendry","tag-names","tag-snooker","tag-stephen","tag-world"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2259696391_1772554548.jpg",1200,630,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2259696391_1772554548-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2259696391_1772554548-300x158.jpg",300,158,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2259696391_1772554548-768x403.jpg",640,336,true],"large":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2259696391_1772554548-1024x538.jpg",640,336,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2259696391_1772554548.jpg",1200,630,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2259696391_1772554548.jpg",1200,630,false],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2259696391_1772554548-1024x538.jpg",1024,538,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2259696391_1772554548-540x340.jpg",540,340,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?author=1"},"category_info":"<a 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