‘It was torture to play’ – Snooker legend Stephen Hendry opens up on why he retired early

STEPHEN HENDRY has opened up on the “yips” that ended his snooker career. The seven-time world champion, 57, said it was “torture” to play once the involuntary loss of muscle memory began to creep into his game. Stephen Hendry says playing snooker became like “torture” Credit: Alamy Hendry won the last of his world titles in 1999 Credit: Getty And after dominating in the 1990s, he had packed the sport in by 2012, when he was just 43. Former world No1 Ding Junhui recently spoke out on Hendry’s retirement, saying: “In my opinion, he retired too early. Sign up for the Sport newsletter Thank you! “But towards the latter stages of his career, a lot of the problems he had when playing may actually have been related to his technique. “He may have known what was going on, but he couldn’t control it. He couldn’t control his body.” Addressing those comments on the World Snooker Tour podcast, Hendry said: “My technique was gone. I had the yips. “I couldn’t play snooker the way I wanted to play. My game was shot. “So Ding is absolutely 100 per cent right in everything he said. “It was just torture to play. So I had to stop. I mean, if I didn’t have the yips, I probably might still be playing now.” Most read in Sport BEST ONLINE CASINOS – TOP SITES IN THE UK The yips refers to an issue between the mind and body whereby muscle spasms and conflicting brain signals make routine movements difficult. Darts players and golfers can also suffer with a variation of the yips which affects releasing the dart and chipping. Hendry, who has watched the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Williams play on into their fifties, recalled: “It probably happened the first time about 10 years previously, maybe a bit more. “I played a shot and I didn’t go through it. “I sort of grabbed onto the grip cue and there was a shudder, and I thought, ‘Oh, that’s new. I don’t like that. That’s never happened before’. “I sort of forgot about it, played the match, then it happened again a few months later.” Comment now