Snooker legend Stephen Hendry believes Zhao Xintong is the best ball striker he’s ever seen – better than both Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump. The Chinese star, who was crowned world champion earlier this year, stormed to victory at the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship last week, beating Neil Robertson 5-2 in the final. It marked his first event win as world champion – and bagged him a cool £250,000 winners’ prize.
After the final, Hendry waxed lyrical about Xintong and even suggested his ball-striking abilities were the best in snooker history. “I’ve repeated myself two or three times [but] he’s the best ball striker I’ve ever seen, playing snooker,” the Scot said on TNT Sports. “I’m including everyone in that – from the [Ronnie] O’Sullivans to the [Mark] Selbys, to the [Judd] Trumps, everyone. No-one struck the ball as pure as Zhao Xintong and I think he could be the future of snooker for the next 20 years.”
Zhao’s form has been patchy since his world title triumph at the Crucible in May. However, recent weeks have reminded everyone why he’s tipped as a potentially generation-defining superstar.
In Riyadh, he opened his campaign with a composed 4-2 victory over Shaun Murphy – who had dismantled O’Sullivan 4-0 in the previous round – before edging Trump 4-3 in a tense semi-final. The early frames of the final were tightly fought, but once Zhao settled, he seized control and never looked back.
The turning point in the match appeared to come in the third frame, as Zhao staged a dramatic recovery from 48-0 behind to take a 2-1 lead, with the positioning of the balls clearly favouring Robertson.
Speaking after his win on Friday night, Zhao said: “I didn’t want Neil to know I’m nervous. I was looking forward to this final a lot because Neil is a very good player. I’m so happy to win now. Amazing this week. First time in Saudi, and I could see a lot of people support me.”
The 28-year-old’s focus now shifts to the UK Championship, which begins on Saturday. He will be targeting victory again after winning the title back in 2021.
“He’s going to York now, a place where he’s already won the UK Championship before, he’s going with a win under his belt – his first win as world champion – which must feel amazing to him,” Hendry noted. “He’s going to be the man to beat there.”
While things might be looking up Zhao, he continues to play under a cloud of controversy. In early 2023, the Shenzhen-born ace was implicated in a major snooker match-fixing scandal that involved 10 Chinese players.
Although he did not actually fix any matches himself, he admitted to being “party to another player fixing two matches” and also to placing bets on snooker events. Initially handed a 30-month suspension by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), his sentence was reduced to 20 months because of his early guilty plea and cooperation.
After serving the ban – which ended in September 2024 – he returned via the Q Tour, rebuilt his form and remarkably won the World Snooker Championship in 2025.
