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Stephen Gordon Hendry MBE (born 13 January 1969) is a Scottish professional snooker player who dominated the sport during the 1990s, becoming one of the most successful players in its history. After turning professional in 1985 at age 16, Hendry rose rapidly through the world rankings, reaching number four in the world by the end of his third professional season. He won his first World Snooker Championship in 1990 aged 21 years and 106 days, surpassing Alex Higgins as the sport's youngest world champion, a record he still holds. From 1990 to 1999, he won seven world titles, setting a modern-era record that stood outright until Ronnie O'Sullivan equalled it in 2022. Hendry also won the Masters six times and the UK Championship five times for a career total of 18 Triple Crown tournament wins, a total exceeded only by O'Sullivan's 21. His total of 36 ranking titles is second only to O'Sullivan's 39, while his nine seasons as world number one were the most by any player under the annual ranking system used until 2010. Hendry won five consecutive Masters titles between 1989 and 1993 and five consecutive world titles between 1992 and 1996, both records in the modern era. From 1992 until his defeat by Ken Doherty in the 1997 World Championship final, he won 29 consecutive matches at the Crucible, a modern-era record. He also holds the record for the longest unbeaten run in ranking tournaments, having won 36 consecutive matches in ranking events (including five titles) between March 1990 and January 1991. One of three players to have won all the Triple Crown events in a single season, he is the only player to have achieved the feat twice, in the 1989–90 and 1995–96 seasons. He has made 776 career century breaks, including 11 maximum breaks, which puts him behind only O'Sullivan (15) and John Higgins (12) for the most officially recognised 147s in professional competition. Hendry's form became less consistent after his sixth world title in 1996 and his career declined in the 2000s, his play increasingly affected by the yips. He reached the last of his nine world finals at the 2002 World Championship but lost in a deciding frame to Peter Ebdon. He won his last ranking title at the 2005 Malta Cup and reached his last ranking final at the 2006 UK Championship, again losing to Ebdon. In the 2011–12 season, he fell out of the top 16 in the world rankings for the first time in 23 years. Although he qualified for the 2012 World Championship, where he made his 27th consecutive Crucible appearance, he announced his retirement from professional snooker at age 43 after losing to Stephen Maguire in the quarter-finals of the event. After almost nine years in retirement, he returned to the professional tour in 2021 under an invitational tour card. Hendry also competes on the World Seniors Tour and regularly features as a commentator and studio pundit for snooker coverage on BBC and ITV. He was awarded an MBE in 1994, and was twice named the BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year, in 1987 and 1996.
