Stephen Hendry has announced his retirement from snooker after snubbing World Tour offer

Stephen Hendry, a snooker legend, has made the decision to hang up his cue at last. The seven-time world champion declined a wildcard invitation to the World Snooker Tour for a two-year period.

Even though he had won the World Championship with a remarkable maximum 147 break, the King of the Crucible officially retired in 2012.

Nine years later, he announced his retirement with much fanfare.

But the 55-year-old Hendry has given up on the game after failing to reach his brilliance on the baize.

“To be honest, I wasn’t uprooting any trees, was I?” Hendry chuckled. “The quality of the work surprised me a little bit, but I simply don’t have enough time to practice because of my other work obligations.”

“Unfortunately, my body is not responding to my brain’s commands, even though I still know every shot in the game and the inside scoop.

“I wasn’t putting in the effort the last couple of season and, with

all my TV commitments and my YouTube channel, it’s just not feasible to do myself justice.”

Hendry recently spent a month working in China, where he does a lot of ambassadorial work and revealed: “I’m going to be in China for four or five months a year, plus I’ve got all my TV work and everything else.

“And the other thing is that if you’re not playing regularly on these (qualifying) tables you’re going to struggle.”