What more can be said about arguably the greatest snooker player of all time?

Seven World Championship titles, five UK Championships, two British Opens and six Benson and Hedges Masters crowns put the Scot head and shoulders above the rest.

Hendry was awarded an MBE by The Queen in 1994 and voted BBC Scotland's Sports Personality of the Year in 1987 and 1996.

He has also been voted World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association Player of the Year on seven occasions.

In 2000, the Perthshire potter reached a total of 505 career century breaks - over 200 more than the next-best tally of Steve Davis.

But his provisional ranking at the beginning of 2001 had dropped down from third to fourth following a topsy-turvy season.

Hendry had started the 1999-2000 campaign in fine fashion - with victories in the Champions Cup and British Open.

Yet he suffered a shock 10-7 defeat to little-known qualifier Stuart Bingham in the first round of the Embassy World Championship at Sheffield.

The start of the 2000-01 season saw a series of near-misses, with semi-final defeats in the Liverpool Victoria Uk Championship and China Open.

However, he was part of the Scottish team - along with John Higgins and Alan McManus - which lifted the Coalite Nations Cup.

And it would be foolish to rule him out of a seventh B&H win.