In the run-up to this year's World Championships, Mark Allen asked Stephen Hendry for advice on how to win the championship, and the legend's advice was to cut back on practice time.

小钢炮艾伦今年亮相克鲁斯堡时状态低迷，自2月威尔士公开赛后未尝胜绩。在世界公开赛首轮负于大卫利里后，艾伦在社交媒体坦言：“如果能找回安全球手感、提升长台准度、减少低级失误，或许还能赢一两场。现在信心全无，只能期待下赛季了。”

如今这位北爱尔兰名将在刚刚结束的世锦赛首轮战斗中，以10-6战胜欧洲大师赛冠军范争一，终于终结连败颓势晋级16强，将与沃克林展开对决。从2月中国玉山赛早早出局的低谷走来，他的状态正逐步回升。

"It's purely a matter of form. Although I have suffered from depression before, this time I felt completely different. "It's just a huge disappointment with my performance. I trained hard, and I would have accepted it if I had lost because of slackness, but I felt like I had never relaxed my practice, and I just couldn't find my touch. ”

"It's hard to put into words the frustration when you're preparing for every event and then you're out early. What's even more frustrating is that some players have gone on holiday before the game, doing things that I shouldn't have done, and still winning the championship. It's a time when you have to keep doing the right thing and wait for a turnaround. ”

在本赛季倒数第2站球员赛失利后，艾伦向七届世锦赛冠军亨德利寻求建议，他得到的答复是：Completely get away from the table and forget about snooker for a while.

"Stephen Hendry told me to rest for a few days and not to work hard. It completely broke my habits. Alan said in surprise, "Except for the Christmas break in my career, I've never been training non-stop during the season. I always feel that if I don't practice for one day, I should not be able to play well, and I feel guilty even when I rest. But this time I followed the advice to fly to Dubai, and I didn't touch snooker at all for a few days, and the training effect was better when I came back. ”

The current world number eight, he admits that it is a great honour to be able to communicate with his childhood idol: "Stephen Hendry is the senior I respect the most. It's an honor to be able to ask him for advice, but in the end, it's up to you to hit the ball on your own.I've always been willing to learn from others, and even when I reached the top of the world last year, I didn't stop thinking about how to improve. This spirit of inquiry will never change.”

小钢炮与克里斯沃克林的1/8决赛将于英国当地时间周四下午打响。北京时间是本周周四晚上10点半开始。