Stephen Hendry has a better chance than Andy Murray of getting back to the top: EVE MUIRHEAD

According to world champion and Olympic medalist, “Andy Murray and Stephen Hendry are Scottish sporting icons. Always will be.”

Murray broke all expectations by rising to the very top in a sport which we had no history of producing greatness in, while Hendry is arguably the most ruthless winning machine we’ve ever had.

To see them both battling away in the lower reaches of their respective sports this week isn’t something any of us would have predicted a few years ago. Hendry was happily retired and Murray was winning big titles for fun.

With injuries forcing Andy to start at the bottom again and Stephen rediscovering a desire to compete, there was one of them fighting away to get through a first round of a low level tournament before being knocked out in the next one, and the other losing 4-1 on his return after nearly a decade in the Gibraltar Open.

If you’re asking me which one I think has the better shot at getting back to – or near to – the top, I’d say Hendry.

The physical demands in tennis are so intense that, at Murray’s age, it’s an incredibly difficult task to climb the mountain again.

He scaled it the first time through supreme talent and punishing his body to its limit in practice and in the gym. The talent will never leave him but it’s unrealistic to think he can marry that with the second part of the equation.

In snooker, on the other hand, there aren’t the same obstacles which stop you putting in the hours. And the mental side of things, which Hendry was struggling with, can be fixed.

As strange as it may sound given the amount of time he’s been away and his age, I’d put his chances of contending for big titles higher than Sir Andy’s.