The '89 World Championship saw probably the best snooker of Davis' career. Amazing to think this year would be his last world final - I would have bet on him going on to win 8 or 9 world titles the way he played in this tournament.
I think when Hendry really started hitting his stride, very soon after this WC, Davis got a bit rattled. It caused him to lose some of his iron confidence and self-belief. He never really recovered from losing the next two UK finals to Hendry.
make no difference when the tables,/balls and cloths were like this. Todays equippment makes is far far easier to break build, the balls bounce off each other instantly too.
@@KenBlive Indeed he did. Shame about Jimmy tho. He only got gud in the early 90s, when he had to face prime Hendry. I reckon if he were to clean up his act in the 80s, he'd win a couple of world titles.
Afternoon another classic between 2 greats of the game looking forward to this match thanks mjt_snooker for showing and sharing am throughly enjoying all the matches ☺👍
A great re-watch and Davis's vast experience was key at the the time, very hard to grasp Hendry's first semi final and 1 table set up at this point in time. A great victory for Steve and a great way to bow out as he said in the interview (which was very insightful) after Steve suffered his first biggie in the UK semi 9-3 defeat then lost to Stephen in the Masters 6-3, Irish Masters 6-4, so the tide was begginng to turn. Steve always was a great front runner 10-2 here at one point but the 51 (which took so much bottle) break to and then win the frame on the black to go 13-9 in front won Steve the match had it gone 12-10 who knows. What is even more remarkable (its in Steves book) he would never win it again or even get to a world final which at the 18-3 score line against Parrott people would have laughed you out of Sheffield. I always wonder had Steve beat Jimmy in the 1990 semi (16-14 to Jimmy) what would have unfolded, I don't accept Hendry would just had a similar scoreline against Steve 18-12, Jimmy's game suited Stephen as he'd get chances (the only time they could have met in the final realistically) not the same against Steve if only. Personally Ronnie is the greatest, but Steve will always be my favourite and the reason I picked up a cue at 7. It there are going to be anymore uploads the 1987 World Final would be great Joe so close to over coming the "Crucible Curse" at 18-14, and away from the Worlds, the 1987 UK Final Steve v Jimmy is still one the highest quality finals (especially considering the time factor 80's snooker being inferior some say) 16-14 to Steve. Steve 50 plus breaks = 110, 108, 107, 106, 100, 98, 75, 73, 55 Jimmy 50 plus breaks = 139, 91, 70, 59, 58, 58, 57, 52, 50, 50 I wish they'd revert the UK back to best of 31 frame finals I hate how they've diluted longer frame tournaments Barry sort it!
A nice read, however Hendry was the man...Hendry at his best against Ronnie at this best, with the pressure that brings for both players, i would have Stephen every day of the week...Hendry had balls of steel, the most attacking player the game has ever seen....Won thousands betting on him and if i had one player to play a frame for my life, that final frame...Stephen would be the man.
If Steve was at his peak now, with his 1980s hunger and focus, he would still be very hard to beat. Ronnie on his A-game could to it but not many others.
Thanks for the upload, great work! Thumbs up for the person who came up with the idea of putting the scoreline constantly under the screen! Damn its quite irritating to watch without knowing what the score is LOL. It must have been awful for the viewers in the 80s.
@@distantthunder12ck55Ronnie has been the best player for much of the time since then, but not consistently - he’s had a few fallow periods. And he’s never quite dominated the sport in the way Davis or Hendry did for a decade each.
He was never quite the same after this year - would have loved to have seen this Davis face off against the Hendry of the early '90s. Would have been some classic matches.
I think this is the game that made Hendry decide to slow down his pace slightly. When he did from the start of the 89-90 season it became quickly clear that there was a new man to beat...
@@ianwilliamson2980 Hendry was not yet the finished article, still had much to learn about his own game. This match taught him much and helped him improve aspects of his game, therefore it was indeed a lesson and probably the last lesson he needed. So Mills is right.
Davis was excellent in the 80`s but Hendry was brilliant in the 90`s ..... had so much belief in himself and was never beaten till the last ball. That come back against Jimmy White from 14-8 to 14-18 was and is unmatched.
I really enjoy the way they switch commentators from session to session, I didn't realise they had been doing that for so long in snooker. Enjoy listening to Clive Everton. Who is commentator alongside Clive Everton at 4:11:32?
@@michaeltrumph121 lol, Ronnie was in Hendry’s era for years! Hendry still the youngest player to win the WC, Only player to win the triple crown in 2 different years. 29 match streak at the crucible and highest win rate there. Weak era my hole.
@@johnmc3862 _lol, Ronnie was in Hendry’s era for years!_ Ronnie was a mere teenager back then. As soon as he turned 20, along with Higgins and Williams, Hendry's domination ended. _Hendry still the youngest player to win the WC, Only player to win the triple crown in 2 different years._ Due to playing in a WEAK era.
dont be stupid. Todays players are all the same ones from the last 20 years. There are no upcoming players and its stale, even ronnie said this. Plus todays equipment make it piss easy to move the balls around without needing any power or spin.
It was a fantastic session by both of them. One of the best matches I've seen at the crucible. Nottinghamshire was an hours drive perhaps to Doncaster or Sheffield.
It's clear that complacency never came into Steve's play - even in a decade where he dominated. He seemed here fully aware of the need to keep pushing himself to better levels. While Hendry took over his mantle as the best in the world, at least Steve can say he never took anything for granted
I found the parallels between snooker and tennis in the 80's, Davis was like Ivan Lendl (8 consecutive US open finals) Wimbledon, French open, the dominant player, White the Mcenroe, then came the Hendry, Higgins, O'Sullivan, the Agassi, Sampras, Courier
I remember that season. Hendry beat Davis 9-3 at the UK Championships and 6-3 at the Masters, both were semi finals. At the Crucible, again another semi final Davis totally outplayed Hendry dominating 3 out of the 4 sessions.
Davis must have rewatched those 2 matches setting him up for the win at the worlds, otherwise I think the '89 world championships would have been Hendrys first. Davis was class though, the 80s was Davis time, the 90s Hendrys time. I'd say somewhere in the 2000s snooker started to lose its magic, music too, well everything, probably mid to late 2000s it all lost its soul.
The scoreline has never been the messure of actual performance itself or form though. When Davis and Hendry won by big margins in the1980's and 1990's the scoreline was just the scoreline. Winning or losing was the performance, not by how much they beat their opponents by.
Steve knew that Hendry would be the one to dethrone him eventually but I don't think anyone expected it would happen that quickly. The way Steve played in '89 he must have thought he had at least a couple more world titles in him before Hendry took over.
This match almost reminds me of how a father trains up his son to continue the high quality family business or long tradition just before it's time he retires himself
@@parksyist rather like the uk and the us. Probably not the best analogy but England was the world power fora while and was still up there when the us rose to prominence
Yes, it is even more remarkable when you consider Steve only dropped 23 frames in the entire '89 championship. Stephen never punished Steve (as in later matches) for Steve numerous mistakes in this semi final. Steve's safety play was a little loose at times. Looking back now it is clear to see Steve's game was deteriorating despite winning the championship. However, in fairness, Steve turned on the style to end Stephen's charge in the 4th session and showed just how great a player he could be when on song.
You can tell from the psychology here that Steve knew that Hendry was on the cusp of greatness. Davis used everything in his power here to win, but the UK final at the end of the season affected Davis in a way that would change his mentality forever. He ended up hating Hendry from 1990 onwards and mulled over his technique too much, which totally altered his game and decision making, A clearer mindset and slightly more relaxed approach would have seen him pick up at least another 2 world titles in the 90s. Davis is still one of the best to ever do it.
Just remember these tables were not the perfect fast cloths of today, the nap was not perfect either, you had to work the ball, today is very forgiving and you can play with little power to get results.
Little did anyone know that this would be Steve Davis's last triumph in the world championship.... Never made another final after this, the closest he got was in 1994 when he played Hendry in the semi, very close after 17 frames, Davis actually lead 9-8, after that he never won another frame...
Wow, Steve fist-clinching !! taking on that black ball decider in 17th. Huge pressure pot, 11-6 or 10-7. He knew Hendry had it in him to get back into the match at 10-7
@@opencurtin alex higgins did too but was 2X world champ..jimmy white just could not hold it together when he got close to the finish line & what a shame..he was great to watch
@@johnmc3862That’s an excuse. He doesn’t like to admit he was a choker and that’s understandable I suppose. (Although Willie Thorne, for one, was fairly open about being a bottler.)
Thanks for upload mjt. Does anybody know why Clive Everton was dropped from BBC Commentary team. He was one of the best at the time - very knowledgable and impartial. I’ve also always wondered who his favourite player was 🤔
he fell out with bbc establishment because they didn't like his commentary style, and wanted him to be more like Dennis Taylor, John Virgo, e.t.c. and so they sacked him
The beeb wanted the players in the commentary box sadly, so he was replaced in 2010... By Ken Doherty... 😕, Clive Everton is the voice of snooker, I'm glad ITV 4 realised this & snapped him up..
TOBAD7 Yeah right the same John Virgo that got caught swearing during live commentary - same goes for Willie Thorne too - and the pair of them wasted their lives and list their families through lies, cheating and gambling addiction. Great Snooker role models right there!!! Well done BBC
I used to love snooker when I was little, one thing that always baffled me was I used to think that the light reflecting on the surface of the balls were actually two white stripes that had been painted on them which gave the illusion that the balls were hovering across the table rather than rolling!😀😀😀🎱🎱🎱
Commentary back in the day was far more professional and respectful to the viewers intelligence,.they give a view and allow the action to tell the full story,........now they explain in detail what the player shou!d do as if it's written in stone......so irritating
Davis and Hendry in their pomp's fully expected to restrict their opponents to their own break off shot and the second shot after Davis/Hendry broke off for the entire match/session. Not that that ever quite materialised.
I watched though the entire 5 hours and 40 mins in one go amazing. You have to think id Hendry never existed then Davis and Jimmy White would have won a few world championships between them maybe Davis 2 more and Jimmy White about 3 or 4
True. Also, if Davis had never picked up a cue, Alex Higgins might have won a few more World Championships, and snooker remained a hugely popular spectacle.
Interesting point. Stephen really got under Steve's skin, to the point where he wasn't just losing to the all conquering Stephen Hendry, but also losing to the likes of Jimmy White and John Parrott, both of which Steve had the edge over in his prime. Steve Davis was clearly not the same player after 1989. As Steve's game started to slowly decline, Stephen's game got stronger and stronger.
Steve had little hope of regaining the world number one position (he nearly did one season) because he was playing at perhaps 75 to 80% of his former self. Sadly the Steve Davis that entered the arenas during the 1990s was really a shadow of his former self. Equally sadly, the exact same thing would haunt the great Stephen Hendry after 1999.
Neither player at their best here in my opinion. Steve's safety play was loose at times and Stephen's long potting wasn't great at times either. Even though Steve won the 1989 championship, you can see the decline in his game. Stephen never punished Steve's mistakes in the opening 2 sessions which ultimately made the difference between winning and losing. Steve's edge was slipping, loose safety shots and missing easy balls were beginning to cost him dear, especially against Stephen Hendry, a player every bit as ruthless and hungry as Davis once was. Looking back now, you can see Steve's reign was under serious threat. Part of that threat was from Steve himself, making mistakes and no longer getting away with it. 6 months after this tournament ended, the tables had turned and unfortunately in Steve's case, the tables would never turn again in his favour. With all that said Steve Davis was a great champion and he played a major role in raising the standard of play by making fellow professionals work harder in practice.
both dominated a decade a piece..still the greatest champions in snooker history nobody touches their record at the crucible including ronnie,john higgins..
Davis 39-4 in the 1980's into the 1990's and Hendry 29-1 in the 1990's in their hottest streaks where either at least made the world semi final each year. Doubt today anybody could come along and match or beat those records today, even primes Davis of the 1980's and Hendry of the 1990's.
Richard Edwards Oh yes thanks Richard of course it was. I played John once in under 16’s competition at Blackpool Commonwealth Sporting Club. He annihilated me 2-0 and even broke the pack up off the bottom cushion from the break, then knocked an 80 odd break in. Not nice I recall
Richard Edwards It was the Hillsborough disaster the week before and John was wearing black armband for respect of the victims even though he’s a blue fan.
This is Davis Prime, to be fair he would have still been the best into 1991 1992 had he won the UK championship in 1990 and he was 15-14 up, Hendry got stronger through confidence, this Davis new he was the best and thats what u need I think the belief. I think its forgotten Davis was still making the world semis right up until 1994 and it took Hendry until 1997 to go past his ranking title haul. Hendry incredible but its worth looking back they were tied at 15-15 matches a piece up to 1992. Also shows how silly Ronnies game is that it shows zero slow down and hes in his mid 40s.
hendry won 7 titles but really should had been 6 as jimmy white gifted 2 of the 4 the finals to him unlike davis was not so lucky when players like taylor & joe johnson had their chance to beat davis..they took it
I've always said that, I play at my local and I can easily screw the white back from one end of the table to the other and the cloths are slow, tv tables today are easy to deep screw the cue ball due to the frictionless thin cloths, makes me chuckle when a pro does it on tv table only to from commentators how amazing that was lol, do it on a standard club table then it will have my respect.
@@uknowmyname007 Yep, I bet at least half those shots he couldn't pull off on a local shitty club table with sluggish thick clothes :-) , however my point is valid though regarding full length screw back shots, the thinner the cloth the far easier you can do it, if you can do it on your table down your local club then I guarantee you'll be able to do it on a tv table due to the less frictioned cloths, I've found that out myself being a screw and stun player.
i think your wrong there Hendry also holds the record for making the most centuries in a single match, compiling seven during the final of the 1994 UK Championship. During this match, Hendry compiled six centuries in a span of eight frames.
@@christopherfarrington9270 Was that not 6 centuries out of 8 winning frames in the 1994 UK final, not 6 centuries in 8 frames played. Also to say he made 7 centuries in 10 frames is wrong. It was 7 centuries in 10 winning frames because Doherty won s few frames I recall.
Proof here that it wasn't only Hendry who took leads like 8-1, 10-3, 11-2, 12-5 etc and/or won a string of 6 to 8 frames in a row in a long 4 session match. 5 frames in it was still a large lead. But was going from Davis 10-2 to 10-6 before it became 11-6 the spell in the match (he saw that Davis was wobbling) that made Hendry realise that he could take over from Davis and dominate for a few years especislly when one takes into account a few big wins for Hendry over recently before then (Hendry had scored some big wins over White too, the 2 players Hendry looked up to). It was Hendry 7-6 the remainder of the match from Davis 10-2.
@@pondermatic Without that counter clearance and then respot win by Davis it could have been 15-12 or 15-13. Hendry knew that Davis was rattled well before that, just did not quite manage the extra frame during his streak go his way instead of Davis to be in with a real chance of winning the last 4 of the 31 frames at the death. But Hendry knew that he could very well have done Davis over 14-5 for the remainder of the match from 10-2 to Davis had it gone 10-7 instead of 11-6 to Davis. Yes Hendry would have had to have won the last 6 frames to make it to the final had it been 10-7 at the time but Hendry was certainly not scared of Davis and Hendry has often won the last 6 frames at the death. Davis was certainly getting worried about Hendry at that point of his career even though he beat Hendry that time.
@@richiesegal7326 Stephen Hendry was far too good for Steve Davis from 1990 onwards, I put Hendry best above Davis as the greatest but put Ronnie O'Sullivan the best ever!
@@sedgleyathome On peak, yes I think so but the game had changed also. I would say though that in the decline, would favour Davis. Hendry never changed his game to cope with his decline so smashed the pack and then missed a sitter and loose the frame. Davis would put in on the cushion and have a fighting chance - hence why he could overturn John Higgins when his best days were 20 years ago....Ronnie - has played from the start of the Hendry years, and is still the man to beat...just.
Richard Edwards very well put. Think the 90-97 hendry was the greatest ever in terms of a player and a winner but you are right he failed to adapt his game in the last 10 years of his career like Steve did. Ronnie deserves amazing credit for almost being at the top of his game for approaching 3 decades.
Davis in his prime did not miss a easy pot. Hendry in his prime never missed if other player missed a easy pot. To me Davis was not the same player after 1989.
Hendry always said this was the match that made him change his game, slow it down a touch (he was playing almost at O'Sullivan type speed at this time), and from the start of the following season he was nigh on untouchable for a decade.
This match is the one where experience counted in Davis's favour, just. The last time he could beat Hendry in one of the 3 big tournaments. Davis took it, in fact it was the only big tournament meeting he beat Hendry in. Davis ran out of road in terms of him could beat Hendry in a big one the moment he got to 16 frames. Had it been 10-7 instead of 11-6 the result could very well have worked out completely differently.
Davis at this point was still slightly stronger than Hendry over the long distance matches, he had the momentum as defending champion and saved his best snooker for the World Championship, he hadn’t actually had a vintage season heading to Sheffield, Hendry had won his first Masters that season and was improving quickly but Davis was a different animal at Sheffield and he had the incentive of trying to match Ray Reardon s six titles and 89 was arguably the best of his 6 titles but even though Hendry was obviously going to be a World Champion, it’s hard to believe Davis would never win the title or even reach a final again after dominating this tournament but Hendry came back at Davis in this match and won 4 frames in a row from 10 2 down, he could match Davis in the scoring stakes but Davis s safety and overall experience was still enough of an advantage but Hendry improved the following season and as he says himself, beating Davis in the final of the UK championship at the end of 89 was a big breakthrough and he just took off after that, Davis more or less stayed ranked No2 in the world for another five years or so but Hendry s attacking game was just better by the early 90s.
Great points. it was almost impossible to think Davis would never again make the final, Think im correct in saying he never really got close in his further semi finals and he played Hendry at the same stage a few years later having had a half decent season but was still well beaten. His longevity considering the standard was so much better in the 90s and 00s was still a major achievement though
@@kailashpatel1706 Actually not just the dynamic between Davis and Hendry but also the dynamic between both and the field. A shame we never got an overlap of 5 years Davis prime and 5 years Hendry prime at the Crucible, UK and masters. But Davis not go entirely without a win over Hendry in the 1990's winning some good length matches albeit not in the biggest 3 tournaments of all and not on the BBC.
the original GOAT..7 finals in a row..owned snooker! davis & hendry the greatest champions in snooker history..peak davis v peak ronnie..davis would always topple him ..hes too durable for him..look how ronnie struggles againt selby and selby is levels below davis
@@edmundpower1250 whats that got to do with the matchup,ronnie stuggles against tactical,methodical players even plodder ebdon dumped him out twice at the crucible too
@@edmundpower1250 Neither of which win you matches. There’s no doubting Ronnies genius but he was never as dominant as Davis or Hendry. Longevity sure.
thanks so much fir the upload. I'm sitting watching it as if it's live :)
The '89 World Championship saw probably the best snooker of Davis' career. Amazing to think this year would be his last world final - I would have bet on him going on to win 8 or 9 world titles the way he played in this tournament.
I think when Hendry really started hitting his stride, very soon after this WC, Davis got a bit rattled. It caused him to lose some of his iron confidence and self-belief. He never really recovered from losing the next two UK finals to Hendry.
Clive Everton leaving the BBC was a huge loss. He is the voice of snooker. A class act.
He married a male and wanted to live the rest of his days with him
@@paulholmes1349 potted the brown fir the rest of his days
@Dyslexic fraud ROS Maybe voice was too high then.
Definitely. A great commentator.
i heard him on itv recently
I’ve been wanting to see footage of this match since I don’t know when. Thanks so much for uploading this, 👍🏻😊
Sport stars I remember to this day and adored growing up...Steve Davis, Ian Botham, Daley Thompson, Steve Cram, Ian Rush....great days.
Great days indeed.
Apart from the bell end Daley Thompson, ye it was a good time!
Eric Bristow too ✌
@@JW-th4nn 100%
... And Frank Bruno.
Thompson was a bit of a knob wasn't he!
I saw both legendary players in Germany. I had a cold with fever but i was there. Thank you for sharing
These 2 are the best ever. Look how slow the tables are compared to today and how hard they have to hit the cue ball
but the pockets were bigger
Ronnie is the best ever
thats why there was not as many 100 breaks,balls were heavier,cloth was thicker
make no difference when the tables,/balls and cloths were like this. Todays equippment makes is far far easier to break build, the balls bounce off each other instantly too.
@@matt-396 I think it was before the idea/invention of super fine cloths, which are thinner and don’t produce as much friction
Agree with others here - just a delight to watch these two. And it is hilarious, Old Clive, he is STILL doing commentary! 😂
Can't wait for this one. Legend Davis.
Thanks for this upload - been requesting this for years - not many matches where the Nugget got the Better of the King of Snooker
This was the 80s. Back when the Nugget WAS the King of Snooker. Hendry simply dethroned him with sheer talent
Der Chiongster Shame they never met in the final in 1990 but white put the Nugget out in the Semis I think 🤔
@@KenBlive Indeed he did. Shame about Jimmy tho. He only got gud in the early 90s, when he had to face prime Hendry.
I reckon if he were to clean up his act in the 80s, he'd win a couple of world titles.
I love how it was not full of ads on the walls around the table. Looks so much better :(
I agree i used to love the embassy set up with the globe's. It's a shame embassy has to stop sponsoring the world championships in 2005
Afternoon another classic between 2 greats of the game looking forward to this match thanks mjt_snooker for showing and sharing am throughly enjoying all the matches ☺👍
A great re-watch and Davis's vast experience was key at the the time, very hard to grasp Hendry's first semi final and 1 table set up at this point in time. A great victory for Steve and a great way to bow out as he said in the interview (which was very insightful) after Steve suffered his first biggie in the UK semi 9-3 defeat then lost to Stephen in the Masters 6-3, Irish Masters 6-4, so the tide was begginng to turn. Steve always was a great front runner 10-2 here at one point but the 51 (which took so much bottle) break to and then win the frame on the black to go 13-9 in front won Steve the match had it gone 12-10 who knows.
What is even more remarkable (its in Steves book) he would never win it again or even get to a world final which at the 18-3 score line against Parrott people would have laughed you out of Sheffield. I always wonder had Steve beat Jimmy in the 1990 semi (16-14 to Jimmy) what would have unfolded, I don't accept Hendry would just had a similar scoreline against Steve 18-12, Jimmy's game suited Stephen as he'd get chances (the only time they could have met in the final realistically) not the same against Steve if only. Personally Ronnie is the greatest, but Steve will always be my favourite and the reason I picked up a cue at 7.
It there are going to be anymore uploads the 1987 World Final would be great Joe so close to over coming the "Crucible Curse" at 18-14, and away from the Worlds, the 1987 UK Final Steve v Jimmy is still one the highest quality finals (especially considering the time factor 80's snooker being inferior some say) 16-14 to Steve.
Steve 50 plus breaks = 110, 108, 107, 106, 100, 98, 75, 73, 55
Jimmy 50 plus breaks = 139, 91, 70, 59, 58, 58, 57, 52, 50, 50
I wish they'd revert the UK back to best of 31 frame finals I hate how they've diluted longer frame tournaments Barry sort it!
U know your stuff and obviously love the game, nice one
@@charlesscottkelly Or a geek which I'm often referred to lol
A nice read, however Hendry was the man...Hendry at his best against Ronnie at this best, with the pressure that brings for both players, i would have Stephen every day of the week...Hendry had balls of steel, the most attacking player the game has ever seen....Won thousands betting on him and if i had one player to play a frame for my life, that final frame...Stephen would be the man.
That '87 UK final was terrific. The 3rd session was held up because water got on the table so had to be recovered but the standard didn't really drop.
Hello fellow snooker geeks 😁
Been searching this match for years. Tremendous Semi-Final. Hendry made a fight of it but Davis was unstoppable in 89
who did he bet in the final?
@@momentumstocks3493 John Parrott
if the nugget carried on playing like this into the 90s hendry would not have won 7 world titles
@@momentumstocks3493Davis absolutely crucified the future World Champion Parrot by the score of 18-3
@@sportsmaster80s25 He might not even have won any. Remember, Jimmy White gifted him two of them !
brilliant interview with steve at the end. many thanks
Oh I can't wait to watch this match (this semi-final 1989 I missed all this match blamed my work long shift) thanks for uploading
Cannot wait for this one! Davis the legend.
If Steve was at his peak now, with his 1980s hunger and focus, he would still be very hard to beat. Ronnie on his A-game could to it but not many others.
Thanks for the upload, great work!
Thumbs up for the person who came up with the idea of putting the scoreline constantly under the screen!
Damn its quite irritating to watch without knowing what the score is LOL. It must have been awful for the viewers in the 80s.
In the 80s there were very few channels so viewer would watch the match straight through knowing the score. If you came in late you just waited
We didn't know any different, but it was a good idea.
@@edmundpower1250
BREAK 30 flashing on the screen was ridiculous. Hardly a stunning break.
Absolute gold. Thankyou
Talk about learning a big lesson. Hendry sure learned alot from this match that put him in good stead for the next 20 years.
Davis here might be the greatest player in history. All of history.
No O'Sullivan is then it's Henry
Steve was certainly the best player of the 80s. Hendry for the 90s. Ronnie for the rest of time since.
23:52
@@distantthunder12ck55Ronnie has been the best player for much of the time since then, but not consistently - he’s had a few fallow periods. And he’s never quite dominated the sport in the way Davis or Hendry did for a decade each.
I thoroughly enjoyed that. You're building up quite an archive. Well done!
"quite an archive" yeah and the BBC will be here to delete it all in about a week, so... lol
7 crucible world finals in a row..still a record
Steve’s analysis at the end of this match is like a breath of fresh air: Honest, accurate and humble.
Steve was the king of eighties snooker. Stephen became king of nineties snooker. So for twenty years these two players were the best
Davis really was at his peak here. Ridiculous to think that after this year he would never win another world title.
Or even get to another final.
He was never quite the same after this year - would have loved to have seen this Davis face off against the Hendry of the early '90s. Would have been some classic matches.
It's such a shame this year and Steves best championship hardly ever get a mention. 1985 tho god we can't forget that. 🙄
@@AndyHodge-f1w i believe someone says if you dominate no-one remembers they all remember when the dominator is pitched off his crown
Yes!!! Thank you so much. Can't wait for this. :)
The Nugget in his prime, beautiful to watch 👍
Right at the end of his prime but still got it.
No this was his prime he dropped less frames in this championship than any other he won
I didn't think he played great in this match. He was a bit past his prime here but tactic and safety won through
A much better person than Hendry too.
@@parksyist Parrot and Hendry didn't turn up which helped.
I genuinely found myself, in the post match interview, thinking: "I find Steve really interesting" lol
What a gentleman. That makes him the best.
Davis's interview with Vine at the very end was illuminating.
Davis at this stage was an incredible player, this was Hendry’s last lesson.
I think this is the game that made Hendry decide to slow down his pace slightly. When he did from the start of the 89-90 season it became quickly clear that there was a new man to beat...
Woud Wilder yes good shout
Eh?
Last season hardly .he went on to win seven world titles one more than Davis
@@ianwilliamson2980 Hendry was not yet the finished article, still had much to learn about his own game. This match taught him much and helped him improve aspects of his game, therefore it was indeed a lesson and probably the last lesson he needed. So Mills is right.
Thank you publisher
Davis was excellent in the 80`s but Hendry was brilliant in the 90`s ..... had so much belief in himself and was never beaten till the last ball. That come back against Jimmy White from 14-8 to 14-18 was and is unmatched.
Greatly aided by a total collapse from Jimmy, of course.
I really enjoy the way they switch commentators from session to session, I didn't realise they had been doing that for so long in snooker. Enjoy listening to Clive Everton. Who is commentator alongside Clive Everton at 4:11:32?
Eddie Charlton.
The 2 most consistently dominant players the game has ever seen, Davis and Hendry.
Cause they played in weak eras.
@@michaeltrumph121 lol, Ronnie was in Hendry’s era for years! Hendry still the youngest player to win the WC, Only player to win the triple crown in 2 different years. 29 match streak at the crucible and highest win rate there. Weak era my hole.
@@johnmc3862
_lol, Ronnie was in Hendry’s era for years!_
Ronnie was a mere teenager back then. As soon as he turned 20, along with Higgins and Williams, Hendry's domination ended.
_Hendry still the youngest player to win the WC, Only player to win the triple crown in 2 different years._
Due to playing in a WEAK era.
dont be stupid. Todays players are all the same ones from the last 20 years. There are no upcoming players and its stale, even ronnie said this. Plus todays equipment make it piss easy to move the balls around without needing any power or spin.
No hendry ended when his cue broke. They were all there during hendrys dominance.,
It was a fantastic session by both of them. One of the best matches I've seen at the crucible. Nottinghamshire was an hours drive perhaps to Doncaster or Sheffield.
It's clear that complacency never came into Steve's play - even in a decade where he dominated. He seemed here fully aware of the need to keep pushing himself to better levels. While Hendry took over his mantle as the best in the world, at least Steve can say he never took anything for granted
1:52:20 - what a great collection of clips of the good ol days
I found the parallels between snooker and tennis in the 80's, Davis was like Ivan Lendl (8 consecutive US open finals) Wimbledon, French open, the dominant player, White the Mcenroe, then came the Hendry, Higgins, O'Sullivan, the Agassi, Sampras, Courier
I remember that season. Hendry beat Davis 9-3 at the UK Championships and 6-3 at the Masters, both were semi finals. At the Crucible, again another semi final Davis totally outplayed Hendry dominating 3 out of the 4 sessions.
Davis must have rewatched those 2 matches setting him up for the win at the worlds, otherwise I think the '89 world championships would have been Hendrys first. Davis was class though, the 80s was Davis time, the 90s Hendrys time. I'd say somewhere in the 2000s snooker started to lose its magic, music too, well everything, probably mid to late 2000s it all lost its soul.
The scoreline has never been the messure of actual performance itself or form though.
When Davis and Hendry won by big margins in the1980's and 1990's the scoreline was just the scoreline. Winning or losing was the performance, not by how much they beat their opponents by.
@@L1ghtOn3
Hendry winning 18-3 over Parrott?
@@dvidclapperton What about it?
All changed the following year though.
Any full match of 1989 world final please as this is Davis last Crucible champion
That long screw at around 4.11 how still he keeps his head. Chin on cue! pure class
Ittle did Steve know that Stephen was about to dominate the 90s like Steve did the 80s
I think Steve was very aware of the fact that Hendry was going to be next big thing. Hendry was only 20 and could only improve from here on...
the changing of the guard the following year
Steve knew that Hendry would be the one to dethrone him eventually but I don't think anyone expected it would happen that quickly. The way Steve played in '89 he must have thought he had at least a couple more world titles in him before Hendry took over.
2:11:59 - i didnt notice our boy David Icke in his prime. What a legendary video this is
Thanks for this... do you have the final? That'd be great.
Ha lol what for? Parrot got crushed 3 - 18.
@@ZEUSDAZ haha i know, i wanted to see it
This match almost reminds me of how a father trains up his son to continue the high quality family business or long tradition just before it's time he retires himself
Only he hangs on for 27 years lol
Well said
@@parksyist rather like the uk and the us. Probably not the best analogy but England was the world power fora while and was still up there when the us rose to prominence
😁
Nobody could have looked at Davis and said this will be his last year in the final
Yes, it is even more remarkable when you consider Steve only dropped 23 frames in the entire '89 championship. Stephen never punished Steve (as in later matches) for Steve numerous mistakes in this semi final. Steve's safety play was a little loose at times. Looking back now it is clear to see Steve's game was deteriorating despite winning the championship. However, in fairness, Steve turned on the style to end Stephen's charge in the 4th session and showed just how great a player he could be when on song.
He did have Steve duggan and Newbury so he would be expecting to tank them I suppose
he was tapped out after cramming in so much dominance in the 80s just like hendry was tapped out after the 90s
@@sportsmaster80s25
Yes it does take its toll. Davis was never going to dominate 2 successive decades much the same fashion. Same with Hendry.
Davis in his prime was beautiful to watch.
You can tell from the psychology here that Steve knew that Hendry was on the cusp of greatness. Davis used everything in his power here to win, but the UK final at the end of the season affected Davis in a way that would change his mentality forever. He ended up hating Hendry from 1990 onwards and mulled over his technique too much, which totally altered his game and decision making, A clearer mindset and slightly more relaxed approach would have seen him pick up at least another 2 world titles in the 90s. Davis is still one of the best to ever do it.
Not sure he “hated” Hendry but he was certainly rattled by him, just as the younger Davis rattled the then-best players when he first came along.
Just remember these tables were not the perfect fast cloths of today, the nap was not perfect either, you had to work the ball, today is very forgiving and you can play with little power to get results.
Davis was a master in his day 👌
Very perceptive interview by Davis at the end there.
This was the last of the 8 semi finals Davis played in the 1980’s - he won them all.
And lost his first of the 90s... To Stephen! New decade new dominator
@@edmundpower1250 actually no, Davis lost the 1990 semi to Jimmy White
@@paulhighe7615 that's true well corrected!
He lost all 3 of his 90s semis.
Little did anyone know that this would be Steve Davis's last triumph in the world championship.... Never made another final after this, the closest he got was in 1994 when he played Hendry in the semi, very close after 17 frames, Davis actually lead 9-8, after that he never won another frame...
yes you could have probably got 100/1 on Davis not getting to another world final.
by 94 he lost he killer instinct..a shame
Wow, Steve fist-clinching !! taking on that black ball decider in 17th. Huge pressure pot, 11-6 or 10-7. He knew Hendry had it in him to get back into the match at 10-7
if only jimmy white believed in himself the way the nugget believed in himself.. davis cue action the best in snooker history..
Jimmy believed in partying too much snooker second ...
@@opencurtin alex higgins did too but was 2X world champ..jimmy white just could not hold it together when he got close to the finish line & what a shame..he was great to watch
It was more partying than belief he said that himself.
@@johnmc3862 he would say that if he kept choking!
@@johnmc3862That’s an excuse. He doesn’t like to admit he was a choker and that’s understandable I suppose. (Although Willie Thorne, for one, was fairly open about being a bottler.)
Hi, does anyone have the ‘95 welsh open final where I believe Davis smashed Higgins, would be lovely to see.
Davis was a machine in the 80s
Thanks for upload mjt. Does anybody know why Clive Everton was dropped from BBC Commentary team. He was one of the best at the time - very knowledgable and impartial. I’ve also always wondered who his favourite player was 🤔
he fell out with bbc establishment because they didn't like his commentary style, and wanted him to be more like Dennis Taylor, John Virgo, e.t.c. and so they sacked him
Worst decision ever
The beeb wanted the players in the commentary box sadly, so he was replaced in 2010... By Ken Doherty... 😕, Clive Everton is the voice of snooker, I'm glad ITV 4 realised this & snapped him up..
TOBAD7 Yeah right the same John Virgo that got caught swearing during live commentary - same goes for Willie Thorne too - and the pair of them wasted their lives and list their families through lies, cheating and gambling addiction. Great Snooker role models right there!!! Well done BBC
*lost
I used to love snooker when I was little, one thing that always baffled me was I used to think that the light reflecting on the surface of the balls were actually two white stripes that had been painted on them which gave the illusion that the balls were hovering across the table rather than rolling!😀😀😀🎱🎱🎱
Haha! I used to think that too!
Haha well said!
The cue ball and yellow ball looked the same colour in black and white.
Commentary back in the day was far more professional and respectful to the viewers intelligence,.they give a view and allow the action to tell the full story,........now they explain in detail what the player shou!d do as if it's written in stone......so irritating
Yes, it was a less is more approach, which I prefer.
The nugget in his prime albeit towards the end of his prime before the domination of hendry throughout the 90’s. The golden age of snooker.
Davis was great here but Hendry was yet to hit his peak and once he did no one could touch him.
When Steve was king snooker no one could beat him on his pomp
And then Hendry came along and took snooker to even greater heights
Davis and Hendry in their pomp's fully expected to restrict their opponents to their own break off shot and the second shot after Davis/Hendry broke off for the entire match/session. Not that that ever quite materialised.
I watched though the entire 5 hours and 40 mins in one go amazing. You have to think id Hendry never existed then Davis and Jimmy White would have won a few world championships between them maybe Davis 2 more and Jimmy White about 3 or 4
True. Also, if Davis had never picked up a cue, Alex Higgins might have won a few more World Championships, and snooker remained a hugely popular spectacle.
Interesting point. Stephen really got under Steve's skin, to the point where he wasn't just losing to the all conquering Stephen Hendry, but also losing to the likes of Jimmy White and John Parrott, both of which Steve had the edge over in his prime. Steve Davis was clearly not the same player after 1989. As Steve's game started to slowly decline, Stephen's game got stronger and stronger.
Steve had little hope of regaining the world number one position (he nearly did one season) because he was playing at perhaps 75 to 80% of his former self. Sadly the Steve Davis that entered the arenas during the 1990s was really a shadow of his former self. Equally sadly, the exact same thing would haunt the great Stephen Hendry after 1999.
@@jordanjordan9022Not sure what you’re on about there. Snooker’s peak popularity was during the Davis era of dominance.
Davis last hurrah as the best player in the world !
Neither player at their best here in my opinion. Steve's safety play was loose at times and Stephen's long potting wasn't great at times either. Even though Steve won the 1989 championship, you can see the decline in his game. Stephen never punished Steve's mistakes in the opening 2 sessions which ultimately made the difference between winning and losing. Steve's edge was slipping, loose safety shots and missing easy balls were beginning to cost him dear, especially against Stephen Hendry, a player every bit as ruthless and hungry as Davis once was. Looking back now, you can see Steve's reign was under serious threat. Part of that threat was from Steve himself, making mistakes and no longer getting away with it. 6 months after this tournament ended, the tables had turned and unfortunately in Steve's case, the tables would never turn again in his favour. With all that said Steve Davis was a great champion and he played a major role in raising the standard of play by making fellow professionals work harder in practice.
both dominated a decade a piece..still the greatest champions in snooker history nobody touches their record at the crucible including ronnie,john higgins..
Davis 39-4 in the 1980's into the 1990's and Hendry 29-1 in the 1990's in their hottest streaks where either at least made the world semi final each year.
Doubt today anybody could come along and match or beat those records today, even primes Davis of the 1980's and Hendry of the 1990's.
The competitiveness of them both oozed out of the screen. Look how Stephen completely avoids eye contact with Davis at 12-9 5:00:49
that showed pure disrespect.
Don't know how people say Davis isn't interesting.
Have you got the final? cannot wait for that....or this!
the final wasn't the most exciting
JosiHD Who did Davis play in the final pls?
@@BradRae188 John Parrot.
Richard Edwards Oh yes thanks Richard of course it was. I played John once in under 16’s competition at Blackpool Commonwealth Sporting Club. He annihilated me 2-0 and even broke the pack up off the bottom cushion from the break, then knocked an 80 odd break in. Not nice I recall
Richard Edwards It was the Hillsborough disaster the week before and John was wearing black armband for respect of the victims even though he’s a blue fan.
where do you get your footages from?
Yes he was but was dwn hill after 1989 he last win of World championship
what the heck are all the sticks Davis is carrying? surely not typical cue extensions
No miss rule.
Some colossus snooker in the 3rd session.
This is Davis Prime, to be fair he would have still been the best into 1991 1992 had he won the UK championship in 1990 and he was 15-14 up, Hendry got stronger through confidence, this Davis new he was the best and thats what u need I think the belief. I think its forgotten Davis was still making the world semis right up until 1994 and it took Hendry until 1997 to go past his ranking title haul. Hendry incredible but its worth looking back they were tied at 15-15 matches a piece up to 1992. Also shows how silly Ronnies game is that it shows zero slow down and hes in his mid 40s.
hendry won 7 titles but really should had been 6 as jimmy white gifted 2 of the 4 the finals to him unlike davis was not so lucky when players like taylor & joe johnson had their chance to beat davis..they took it
Ronnie hasn’t won a final since the WC 2020. Still a great player though.
Davis still managed to beat Hendry a few times in the early to mid 1990's.
Sure but Hendry went on to have 29 matches unbeaten at the crucible and the highest win rate there. And 8 years at no.1.
Can you please upload their 1994 semi final
ruclips.net/video/Elk8bfzeAz4/видео.html
@@walters147 Thanks but its only up to 12-9. Would love to see the last frames as I heard they were very close and tense.
4:11:20 some timing !
If players back then could do that in the old slow tables they would easily do it now
I've always said that, I play at my local and I can easily screw the white back from one end of the table to the other and the cloths are slow, tv tables today are easy to deep screw the cue ball due to the frictionless thin cloths, makes me chuckle when a pro does it on tv table only to from commentators how amazing that was lol, do it on a standard club table then it will have my respect.
@@ZEUSDAZ So, that's how Judd Trump does all those crazy shots :)
@@uknowmyname007 Yep, I bet at least half those shots he couldn't pull off on a local shitty club table with sluggish thick clothes :-) , however my point is valid though regarding full length screw back shots, the thinner the cloth the far easier you can do it, if you can do it on your table down your local club then I guarantee you'll be able to do it on a tv table due to the less frictioned cloths, I've found that out myself being a screw and stun player.
What i find amazing is that Hendry never made 3 consecutive tons in any televised match.
i think your wrong there Hendry also holds the record for making the most centuries in a single match, compiling seven during the final of the 1994 UK Championship. During this match, Hendry compiled six centuries in a span of eight frames.
Pretty sure he made three consecutive tons in quite a few televised matches. He did it in the 94 uk championship against ken doherty
@@christopherfarrington9270
Was that not 6 centuries out of 8 winning frames in the 1994 UK final, not 6 centuries in 8 frames played.
Also to say he made 7 centuries in 10 frames is wrong. It was 7 centuries in 10 winning frames because Doherty won s few frames I recall.
There’s no way that’s correct.
A very unusual ‘YES!’ from Davis when he won that respotted black to go 11-6, after losing the previous four frames.
Proof here that it wasn't only Hendry who took leads like 8-1, 10-3, 11-2, 12-5 etc and/or won a string of 6 to 8 frames in a row in a long 4 session match.
5 frames in it was still a large lead. But was going from Davis 10-2 to 10-6 before it became 11-6 the spell in the match (he saw that Davis was wobbling) that made Hendry realise that he could take over from Davis and dominate for a few years especislly when one takes into account a few big wins for Hendry over recently before then (Hendry had scored some big wins over White too, the 2 players Hendry looked up to). It was Hendry 7-6 the remainder of the match from Davis 10-2.
@@dvidclapperton Yeah that counter clearance and respot was probably the most important moment of the match.
@@pondermatic
Without that counter clearance and then respot win by Davis it could have been 15-12 or 15-13. Hendry knew that Davis was rattled well before that, just did not quite manage the extra frame during his streak go his way instead of Davis to be in with a real chance of winning the last 4 of the 31 frames at the death. But Hendry knew that he could very well have done Davis over 14-5 for the remainder of the match from 10-2 to Davis had it gone 10-7 instead of 11-6 to Davis. Yes Hendry would have had to have won the last 6 frames to make it to the final had it been 10-7 at the time but Hendry was certainly not scared of Davis and Hendry has often won the last 6 frames at the death. Davis was certainly getting worried about Hendry at that point of his career even though he beat Hendry that time.
YES!
hendry looked amazing
cant wait for this . stephen hendry thinking he was the best then met the best , got 16 frames to 9 drubbing
Hnedry was the best. In the 1994 semi final Hendry was nine frames in a row to beat Davis. No other player has won 9 frames on the trot against Davis.
A match too far for Hendry, he then beat Davis in the 89 and 90 final of the UK to confirm the changing of the guard at the top
@@richiesegal7326 Stephen Hendry was far too good for Steve Davis from 1990 onwards, I put Hendry best above Davis as the greatest but put Ronnie O'Sullivan the best ever!
@@sedgleyathome On peak, yes I think so but the game had changed also. I would say though that in the decline, would favour Davis. Hendry never changed his game to cope with his decline so smashed the pack and then missed a sitter and loose the frame. Davis would put in on the cushion and have a fighting chance - hence why he could overturn John Higgins when his best days were 20 years ago....Ronnie - has played from the start of the Hendry years, and is still the man to beat...just.
Richard Edwards very well put. Think the 90-97 hendry was the greatest ever in terms of a player and a winner but you are right he failed to adapt his game in the last 10 years of his career like Steve did. Ronnie deserves amazing credit for almost being at the top of his game for approaching 3 decades.
Hendry never missed anything important after this match
Davis in his prime did not miss a easy pot. Hendry in his prime never missed if other player missed a easy pot. To me Davis was not the same player after 1989.
Davis was in his prime in 1985...wasnt that final black miss v Taylor an easy pot that he missed?
@@edmundpower1250 Yeah the ‘no pressure’ black!
Steve Davis ,complete match room control ,safe tournament play like a chess match ,the game was different then..
Hendry always said this was the match that made him change his game, slow it down a touch (he was playing almost at O'Sullivan type speed at this time), and from the start of the following season he was nigh on untouchable for a decade.
This match is the one where experience counted in Davis's favour, just. The last time he could beat Hendry in one of the 3 big tournaments. Davis took it, in fact it was the only big tournament meeting he beat Hendry in. Davis ran out of road in terms of him could beat Hendry in a big one the moment he got to 16 frames. Had it been 10-7 instead of 11-6 the result could very well have worked out completely differently.
Davis at this point was still slightly stronger than Hendry over the long distance matches, he had the momentum as defending champion and saved his best snooker for the World Championship, he hadn’t actually had a vintage season heading to Sheffield, Hendry had won his first Masters that season and was improving quickly but Davis was a different animal at Sheffield and he had the incentive of trying to match Ray Reardon s six titles and 89 was arguably the best of his 6 titles but even though Hendry was obviously going to be a World Champion, it’s hard to believe Davis would never win the title or even reach a final again after dominating this tournament but Hendry came back at Davis in this match and won 4 frames in a row from 10 2 down, he could match Davis in the scoring stakes but Davis s safety and overall experience was still enough of an advantage but Hendry improved the following season and as he says himself, beating Davis in the final of the UK championship at the end of 89 was a big breakthrough and he just took off after that, Davis more or less stayed ranked No2 in the world for another five years or so but Hendry s attacking game was just better by the early 90s.
Great points. it was almost impossible to think Davis would never again make the final, Think im correct in saying he never really got close in his further semi finals and he played Hendry at the same stage a few years later having had a half decent season but was still well beaten. His longevity considering the standard was so much better in the 90s and 00s was still a major achievement though
He lost to Jimmy in the 1990 semi, 16-14, would have been interesting seeing Hendry v Davis in 1990..
he said the UK defeat (davis) was crucial..changed the dynamic for good between them..
Kevin, you lost your full stops. Here are some: .................
@@kailashpatel1706
Actually not just the dynamic between Davis and Hendry but also the dynamic between both and the field.
A shame we never got an overlap of 5 years Davis prime and 5 years Hendry prime at the Crucible, UK and masters. But Davis not go entirely without a win over Hendry in the 1990's winning some good length matches albeit not in the biggest 3 tournaments of all and not on the BBC.
Who played in the final and who won?
Davis beat Parrott 18 3
@@richiesegal7326 cheers mate, I remember that final
final was a non event whitewash
The 80s belonged to Steve. Hendry had to wait one more year.
1:44:33
Stephen Hendry aka The Wonder bear from Scotland 😉
Wonder Bairn
@@paulwilliams8389 Yes i was joking
This is the 80s man of course Davis wins .
Jealousy
@@edmundpower1250 why is that jealousy? Davis totally dominated snooker In the 80’s. Everyone knows that.
In your face Hendry!
he kept chasing davis the way he kept chasing jimmy white in 1992 only difference davis never buckled like a champion
Good point.
I love the irony of how patronising the commentator was towards Hendry... 3:20:30
Patronising? I think you should Google the word
The game is sure played differently these days.
Punish him Davis Punish him!!
the original GOAT..7 finals in a row..owned snooker! davis & hendry the greatest champions in snooker history..peak davis v peak ronnie..davis would always topple him ..hes too durable for him..look how ronnie struggles againt selby and selby is levels below davis
But Ronnie has 1000 centuries and 14 maximums Steve had ONE end of debate Ronnie rocks
@@edmundpower1250 whats that got to do with the matchup,ronnie stuggles against tactical,methodical players even plodder ebdon dumped him out twice at the crucible too
@@sportsmaster80s25 Ebdon was world champ twice. Respect those who you wouldn't be fit to chalk their cue
Indeed, the 2 most consistent champions ever to play snooker.
@@edmundpower1250 Neither of which win you matches. There’s no doubting Ronnies genius but he was never as dominant as Davis or Hendry. Longevity sure.
147 upvotes.Leave it there folks!☺
What?