Former world champions Stephen Hendry and Ken Doherty have picked players they consider the most underrated, and both chose men who narrowly missed out on Crucible glory.
Hendry reckons the player he beat in four World Championship finals does not always get the credit he deserves.
Jimmy White lost six Crucible finals in total, also beaten by Steve Davis and John Parrott in the sport’s biggest game, and Hendry feels the Whirlwind is unfairly remembered for his defeats rather than his brilliance.
A 10-time ranking event winner and a Masters champion, Hendry also feels White continuing to play a long time past his peak means people can forget how good he was in his pomp.
‘Underrated, it’s quite a tough category but I’m going to say Jimmy,’ Hendry said on WST’s Snooker Club podcast.
‘Everyone goes on about he’s been in six finals and not won one but what a player he was!
‘People look at the way he plays now and he’s like myself, he’s a shadow of what he was, but when you look back at what a player he was, he invented naughty snooker.
Hendry beat White in the 1990, ’92, ’93 and ’94 Crucible finals
‘The way he played, with his talent, and he’s said himself about his off-table activities, but with his talent he should have won a lot more.’
Doherty, who beat Hendry to win his one world title in 1997, reckons it is two-time Crucible finalist Matthew Stevens who is underrated by the snooker community.
The Welshman only ever won one ranking title – the 2003 UK Championship – but was a regular at the business end of the World Championship in the late 1990s and 2000s.
He also won the Masters in 2000, although he had a strange record in that event as he never got past the first round on 10 other outings.
Doherty explained: ‘My most underrated would probably be Matthew Stevens. He was a class player, still is a class player.
Matthew Stevens was beaten by Mark Williams and Shaun Murphy in Crucible finals
‘He did win the UK, won the Masters, the only one he didn’t win was this one [World Championship] and he would have been a Triple Crown winner. People forget about that.
‘He was a wonderful player for so many years and loved playing at the Crucible. Had a couple of finals, a few semis, saved some of his best snooker for here. He was one of the best I’ve played.’
Seven-time Crucible champ Hendry admits that he underrated another top player, but no longer does so after a brilliant last season.
Kyren Wilson won the World Championship in 2024, in something of a surprise to the Scot, who was thoroughly impressed by how he followed up that win with four ranking titles over the next campaign.
Kyren Wilson has won 10 ranking titles
‘I’ll throw in another underrated [player] that might be a weird one: Kyren Wilson,’ said the 56-year-old.
‘I underrated him and then he won the world title. Even after he won the world title I think I underrated him until his performances this season.
‘Four titles. I didn’t think he was going to be a prolific winner and he’s really impressed me this year.’
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