Henry - hopes to face Hendry.
HENRY HOPES FOR SHOT AT CRUCIBLE KING
By Ronnie Esplin, PA Sport
Scotland's Drew Henry admits his ambition is to go head-to-head with 110sport
stablemate Stephen Hendry at the famous Crucible in Sheffield.
Henry will meet the snooker legend in the second round of the Embassy World
Championship if he wins through against Mark King in his opening match.
The 34-year-old claimed Hendry's phenomenal career record would never be
broken and hoped to notch up his first ever win against his countryman.
"If I beat Mark, I play either Stephen or Gary Wilkinson, but I hope to play
Stephen," said Henry.
"My aim is to play him in the Crucible and I would really enjoy that.
"He's simply the best player there's ever been and he's a class above
everyone else when he's on his game. To play him over the best of 25 frames
would be brilliant.
"Stephen's won everything. He was number one in the game for a decade, he's
won seven world titles and there will never be another player like him.
"It's all right saying that Ronnie O'Sullivan has more natural talent, but he
will not win the same amount of tournaments as Stephen.
"I've played Stephen twice in my career so far. He beat me 5-3 about six
years ago and then 9-7 two years ago. It's been quite tight, so maybe it's third
time lucky."
Henry faces a tough opening match against King, but the Scotsman is confident
of a good run in the tournament if he gets a bit of luck.
"I feel good," claimed Henry. "I'm playing well and I'm looking forward to
it. I've played Mark four times and we've won two each.
"But I beat him 10-8 in the World Championships two years ago, so that might
give me the slight edge on Saturday.
"I feel I've had some unlucky matches in the past. This is my fifth year at
the Crucible and my best one was the year I beat Mark to get to the last 16.
"In the first year I played there, John Parrot beat me 10-9 and since then
I've played Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Williams in the year that he won it. So
I've had some really hard games.
"Hopefully, I'll at least get into the last 16 this time because you feel the
tournament is getting going by then.
"Once you're at that stage you can start to enjoy it and if you play the way
you can, then you never know what might happen.
"Every player at the Crucible has earned the right to be there and there are
always a few shocks."
Click here to send us your sporting feedback
