The seven-time world champion’s comeback has been a damp squib so far.
Stephen Hendry has entered the 2021 Gibraltar Open – the former world number one has announced on Twitter this week.
The tournament is the last tournament Hendry can participate in on this season’s calendar before the campaign-concluding World Snooker Championship in April and May.
Hendry originally announced his intention to make an unexpected comeback at the very outset of this term back in September.
The 52 year-old accepted an invitational tour card that has similarly been availed of by the likes of Jimmy White, Ken Doherty, and James Wattana in the past.
However, Hendry opted not to enter any event in the first half of the campaign and his beginning to 2021 has been fraught with somewhat ludicrous mishaps.
The 36-time ranking event winner entered the inaugural Pro Series only to pull out when the draw unveiled his start date to be in January and not March, as he originally requested.
Soon after, Hendry tried to enter the Welsh Open, a tournament that is being contested for this week at the Celtic Manor Resort, only to later learn that there was an apparent “glitch” in the online system and his application wasn’t attached.
In the Gibraltar Open, Hendry will have one opportunity to get his game up to scratch before he makes his attempt to qualify for the Crucible Theatre – where so much of his enormous success occurred.
The Gibraltar Open takes place during the first week of March with a venue yet to be announced, although it has been confirmed that the tournament will take place in the United Kingdom.
Hendry last played competitively in last August’s World Seniors Championship when he lost to eventual champion Jimmy White in the semi-finals.
His last appearance as a professional on the Main Tour was almost nine years ago at the 2012 World Snooker Championship.
