Stephen Hendry is convinced that he has already witnessed the shot of the tournament at the World Snooker Championship. The legendary Scot is certainly well-placed to make such a statement, having tasted Crucible glory on seven occasions during his career. He is now a regular BBC pundit and was running the rule over Tuesday’s play on day four of the tournament.
Hendry was left stunned by Gary Wilson’s effort on the blue during the ninth frame of his first-round match against Judd Trump. With the scores locked at four frames each, the pressure was on for Wilson to put himself in a good position to follow up with a red. He did exactly that, smashing the blue into the left middle pocket and going around the houses to line himself up perfectly.
The cue ball stopped with a clear sight of a red into the bottom left corner pocket, prompting an impressed Hendry to make a bold statement.
He said: “I don’t think the red to the right of the bunch goes to the left corner, so this is going to be really tough to get on from here…
“Wow, that’s the shot of the tournament almost for me. That is the shot of the tournament. You won’t see a better positional shot for the rest of the Championship.”
Main commentator Steven Hallworth added: “He’s pretty much invented a shot here, Gary Wilson. He’s had to flirt so close with the yellow pocket to create an angle which just didn’t look on. Line and pace absolutely perfect.”
Although the shot was fully deserving of all the plaudits it received, Wakelin ended up losing the frame as Trump took a slender lead into the interval.
Last year, Hendry was left shocked by an even better effort from Chris Wakelin during his surprise second-round victory over Mark Allen.
With the white tucked up against the cushion, the 34-year-old expertly sank the yellow to the middle pocket in stunning fashion, leading Hendry to declare: “That is one of the best shots I have ever seen. Phenomenal.”
Former world champion Shaun Murphy later attempted to recreate the shot on punditry, but was unable to replicate Wakelin’s heroics despite having two attempts.