Stephen Hendry and Steve Davis got together in between their duties with the BBC to play a snooker frame at the Alexandra Palace.
The multi-time world champions looked back on the old days in the latest episode on Hendry’s excellent new YouTube channel.
While the standard of their play wasn’t particularly high, the chat more than made up for it and Davis represented another fascinating guest after Hendry’s previous interviews with the likes of Mark Williams, Neil Robertson, and Ken Doherty.
- CLICK HERE: Masters final – Judd Trump vs Mark Williams
With the episode being released on the day of the Masters final between Judd Trump and Mark Williams, the first topic on the agenda was the Nugget’s record at the prestigious invitational.
“Rubbish,” Steve Davis said on the Stephen Hendry Cup Tips channel on YouTube.
“I never got on well at the (Wembley) Conference Centre. I didn’t get the respect that you would have thought I would have got being a Londoner.”
“Obviously anywhere you went in the world Jimmy was the one, but it was more a case of I was the favourite and everyone liked the favourite to be beat.
“The London crowds have always been a bit more boisterous. The Wembley Conference Centre at one stage had 2,800 people.
“I wouldn’t say I was intimidated but I had some bad first-round matches, so I didn’t have a good strike rate getting off the ground in the tournament.
“Whereas Goff’s (Irish Masters) – a great, intimate atmosphere – I won that eight times, one of the proudest things I’ve ever been involved in.
“But the Conference Centre? I don’t know, I didn’t get on well there. Sometimes it’s horses for courses.”
Despite his dislike of the Masters, Davis still managed to win the title on three occasions and referenced the 1997 triumph over Ronnie O’Sullivan as one of his best.
Davis later went on to talk about his period of dominance in the game during the 1980s.
“I think what happened was, after winning the UK in 1980 and the World in 1981, you start to build up that superiority complex.”
“You start to realise that people are crumbling against you, that reinforces your bullet proof.
“Obviously I had hiccups, but generally I was outplaying people. I was starting to watch them miss blacks off the spot all over the place.”
Hendry and Davis also discussed the degree of importance attached to practice, coaching, and sports pyschology before talking about Davis’ rivalries with the likes of Alex Higgins and Jimmy White.
“You knew you were in a match, even if it was an exhibition. He (Alex) was my favourite player to play, as was Jimmy to some degree.”
“It was exciting, but they made mistakes. You (Hendry) had a better version of Jimmy White than I did.
“I had a time when Jimmy was raw, and he was easy to beat because he played so many bad tactical shots.
“Of course the match was good and I was up for it, but they kept missing. Whatever was wrong, maybe they were out partying too much, I was feeding off that.”
