Stephen Hendry reveals he was given a Ferrari and a Bentley for World Championship success

Stephen Hendry has revealed he was given a Ferrari and Bentley as bonuses for winning the World Championship.

Hendry is the most decorated player in Crucible history, with the Scot having seven world titles to his name.

It was a record equalled by Ronnie O’Sullivan last year, and the Rocket has the chance to pass Hendry in 2023.

Hendry and O’Sullivan crossed paths on the table, with O’Sullivan breaking through in the 1990s when the former was the dominant force in the game.

The Scot’s first World Championship came in 1990, and he added six more to his trophy cabinet – culminating with his final title in 1999.

Hendry played the game at a time when it was a big spectator sport, and the prizes on offer were huge.

It also seems that as well as the large purses for tournament success, Hendry did extremely well from his sponsors.

Speaking on the

about an old photo of himself in a branded jumper, Hendry revealed that his sponsor was extremely generous when he won events.

“They were my sponsors, the Sweater Shop,” Hendry said. “They were great.

“They were the ones, one year they gave me a Ferrari. And another time they gave me a Bentley Continental as a bonus for winning the World Championship.”

Hendry was famed for his laser focus, but he admitted to once taking his eye off the prize of the title to think about the car.

He said: “One time, I was clearing up against Jimmy (White) when I beat him 18-17 (in 1984), and I should not have been thinking about it, but I was thinking I was going to get a Bentley.

“I should have been thinking it was for the world title, but I could not help it.”

After dominating the sport through the 1990s, Hendry revealed how his focus shifted when he won the World Championship in 1999 to beat Steve Davis’ record of six titles.

“When I won my last world title in ’99, I said in my press conference that if I don’t win another match I can be happy with my career,” Hendry said. “I basically switched off straight away.

“I did win titles after that but not many, and not world titles.

“I always had that target to get seven, Steve Davis had six, and when I got to seven it was like I could not register what was next.

“Because Steve had six, I had to get to seven. That was always in the distance.

“In my game I started to develop technical faults, had two or three different coaches who did different things, which worked for a while and then did not work, and you just go down the road of losing more than you are winning.

“So instead of just going out and winning, you are going out trying not to lose and my game changed.

“I would avoid certain shots, ended up playing the wrong shots, and it snowballed to get worse and worse and at the end I thought ‘I am not enjoying this, I am not enjoying losing to players I should not lose to.’”

– – –