Defeat forces Hendry to ponder retirement
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Seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry was left contemplating his future after a 4-13 thrashing by Mark Selby in the second round of the world snooker championship in England on Monday.
The 42-year-old Briton said he would make a final decision "in the summer" but his 26th appearance at the event may well have been his last as his fellow players contemplated competing without the man many consider the greatest ever snooker player.
"You need 100 percent self-belief to compete at this level," local media quoted the Scot as saying after losing in Sheffield.
"At the moment I don't have it, which is basically down to not having any success in the last few years. If I can't win, or (can't) believe I can win, then I'm not going to enjoy it.
"I have to think about what is best for me and my life. To not come back would be hard but I've had 26 great years," he said.
Hendry holds many snooker records, including becoming the youngest world champion aged 21 and winning the most world titles but his form over recent years has been inconsistent.
The comprehensive defeat by Selby, where Hendry was on the wrong end of a record for a change as the 27-year-old Englishman became the first player to record six century breaks in a 25-frame match, could prove to be the final straw.
Fellow players said he would be sorely missed if the man who was world No. 1 for eight consecutive years in the 1990s decided to call it a day.
"It would be a big loss to the snooker world," world No. 1 John Higgins told the BBC.
"Stephen has got a big decision to make but it is only him that can make it. But I hope not (that he doesn't retire).
"I think it is definitely premature. It would be a big loss."
Three-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan added his voice to the discussion, writing on Twitter: "Hendry is the greatest snooker player of all time. No doubt. Trust me, I have played them all."
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