Stephen Hendry enjoyed a fierce rivalry with Ronnie O’Sullivan during his record-breaking career.

And that spilled over into trash-talking ahead of a World Championship semi-final at the Crucible in 2002.

The Rocket, spurred on by friend and former world featherweight boxing champion Prince Naseem Hamed, said he wanted to send Hendry ‘back to his sad little life in Scotland’.

But a fired-up Hendry handed England’s O’Sullivan a bloody nose with a grudge 17-13 victory in front of the raucous Sheffield support.

Defiant Hendry punches the air after beating trash-talking O'Sullivan (
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Getty)

Scottish hero Hendry recalls: "I read the paper and realise Ronnie’s really gone to town this time.

"He accuses me of being ‘unsporting’ during our last meeting at the Crucible and says that nothing would give him greater satisfaction than to send me back to my ‘sad little life’ in Scotland.

"I laugh at that bit and I wonder – rightly - whether he’s been listening to a certain Sheffield boxer with a penchant for shooting his mouth off.

"In the last couple of seasons, my pal Prince Naseem has visibly switched his loyalties from me to Ronnie, and the latter has been spotted hanging out with Naz’s entourage. So it’s not surprising there’s a bit of fighting talk.

O'Sullivan can only watch as Hendry shows up all his fighting talk with a 17-13 win (
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Getty)

"What does annoy me, however, is that Ronnie claims not to like me. He says he’ll say hello to me, he says, but I’m not his ‘cup of tea’.

"This is news to me; we’ve always spoken and have what I think are good relations. Ronnie can be up and down, but I’ve never felt he’s had anything personal against me - until now.

"'Okay, Ronnie,’ I think, ‘if that’s the way you want it, we’ll do the talking at the table’. And with that, I go into the semi-final determined to show him who has the mastery at this venue.

"It will be the first time I’ve ever played a match at the Crucible where there is needle involved.

Hamed was a brash featherweight world champion from Sheffield, home of snooker's blue riband event (
Image:
Daily Mirror)

"Here and there I catch him smirking whenever I miss an easy shot. However, I’m nowhere near ready to return to my ‘sad little life’ just yet.

"When Ronnie fights back to make it 12–12, I know I must find the magic that seems to exist for me within the maze of corridors around this place.

"Call it bloody-mindedness or just sheer determination to settle a score – whatever it is, it pushes me to aggressively take five out of the next six frames. And I send Ronnie home with a 17–13 defeat ringing in his ears.

Hendry says he saw O'Sullivan smirking at his misses, but the Scot was the one smiling at the end (
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Getty)

"At the end we shake hands, but I don’t even crack a smile in his direction and I give a fist-pump to the crowd as he walks out.

"This has been a grudge match, no doubt about it, but the way it has fired me up leaves me feeling that I’ve won a World Championship final. Unfortunately, the final is the following day.

"Almost 18 months later, Ronnie sheepishly come up to me and apologises for the outburst. He explains he was put up to it by Naseem Hamed’s entourage.

"I was never going to make the first move but I accepted his apology."

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Image:
Publicity Picture)