Tony Drago faces Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White in Hull (Picture: Getty Images)
Snooker icon Tony Drago is back on the baize on Sunday at the Seniors 900 and can’t wait for his blockbuster clashes with old friends and rivals Jimmy White and Stephen Hendry.
It’s a great line-up in Hull this weekend, with Ken Doherty, World Seniors champion Igor Figueiredo and Barry Pinches in the other group for the fast-paced tournament.
Drago is relishing the chance to face his good pal White once again, while he would love to score a win over Hendry and give the Scot something else to linger in his memory.
‘It is always special to play Jimmy, we speak quite a bit. Maybe sometimes we can go a month without speaking but then speak twice in a week, it depends,’ Drago told Metro.co.uk.
‘The record is not great with Stephen. I think we played 18 times and I think I lost the first 12, then I won three, then he won three, it’s something like 15-3.
‘So the record is not good. But I never forget that I beat him three times in two months. He never forgets it either because he keeps bringing it up!’
The 58-year-old’s memory is bang on, with their head-to-head record at 15-3 in the Scot’s favour, but the Tornado’s hat-trick of wins coming in the German Masters, Irish Open and Masters in the 1998-99 season.
Hendry won the first Seniors 900 event in Epsom in December (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)
Drago had a crack at the amateur version of The 900 in 2022 and is excited to have another go in the Seniors after watching Hendry triumph in Epsom in December and Doherty win the event at Goffs earlier this year.
The Tornado is a fan of the format, but despite his pace around the table, has never been enamoured with the Shoot Out on the professional circuit.
‘I played in the amateur 900, but this is the first 900 Seniors. It was great fun, I enjoyed it,’ he said.
‘The Shoot Out, people think because I play fast I’d like that but I don’t like it, no. When I play snooker I want to be able to concentrate, not all that noise and shouting and screaming.
‘I never liked the Shoot Out and I think the worst thing that ever happened was making that a ranking event. Please, for God’s sake, don’t do it as a ranking event!’
Drago may not be a Shoot Out fan but he is still a very keen fan of snooker, watching the Saudi Arabia Masters unfold in Riyadh in recent days and he expects the game to continue to shift in that direction.
‘I think they’ll be playing a World Championship with £1m first prize in Saudi Arabia in the next few years,’ he said. ‘I don’t like to see it because I love the Crucible, but then again I don’t blame the players.
‘It will be very sad. There’s some players who don’t need the money, Mark Williams, …read more
Source:: Metro
