Stephen Hendry wants to continue his snooker comeback journey and if he can't pass the ranking relegation, he also wants to stay on the tour through a wild card.
文/Phil Haigh，《Metro》
The seven-time World Champion defeated Chris Wakelin 3-2 in the first round of last week's British Open, his second victory after returning to the pro court earlier this year.
In the match against Wakelin, We can see Hendry's form recover, and at the same time he was able to score a lot of wonderful longstands. However, after entering the second round, he failed to continue his good form, losing to Gary Wilson 0:3.
Hendry was awarded a two-year Tour wild card by the WST earlier last season, meaning his wild card qualification expires at the end of the season.
It now seems unlikely that the 52-year-old Hendry will play just for those two years, and he is encouraged by the apparent progress in a few games since his return.
His goal is to compete at the World Championships again in Crucible, and he will continue to work on this until he returns to this snooker mecca.
After the victory over Wakelin, Hendry said: "Whether it is this year, next year or the year after, it will always be my goal to return to The Crucible and I will not set a limit on the time to return. ”
"If I don't get back this year, it doesn't matter, that's my ultimate goal after all." I've always said I don't want losing to Stephen Maguire in 2012 to be my last in Crucible, but there's still a long way to go to get back to Crucible. ”
"If my game status continues to improve, there is no reason to suddenly stop playing again. I'm not coming back to win games one game after another or to be a top player again, I just want to enjoy playing snooker again, play well and see what surprises await me next. ”
Hendry must be in the top 64 or in the bottom 64 in the top 8 of a single season to remain on the Tour after this season, and whether the above relegation route is achieved ultimately depends on his performance.
He can also choose to play Q School after relegation or regain his professional qualification by being granted a wild card by WST, and as can be seen from WST's consecutive wild card awards to Jimmy White, hendry is highly likely to get a wild card again.
"I wish I could get a wild card to compete. Jimmy (White) has always been competing on wild cards, and no one is against Jimmy.com. He's one of my best friends, but I hope, I can get another wild card through competition. ”
"Barry (Hearn) did say to me that as long as I play, I'm going to get a wild card. Of course, if I don't play, he certainly won't give again. So I'm competing, so I think I'm going to get a wild card. ”
Hendry has not signed up for the Northern Ireland Open, but he will be competing in the Scottish Open. The Scottish Open qualifiers will take place next month and due to force majeure the main tournament of the Scottish Open will be held in Llandudno, Wales, and although Hendry was disappointed that the main tournament was arranged in Wales rather than Scotland, he signed up.
Hendry said: "I didn't play at the Northern Ireland Open, I'll play at the Scottish Open, but it would be weird to play the Scottish Open in Randudno. ”
"Actually I don't even know why I don't play the Northern Ireland Open, frankly, I just don't like it. There was no particular reason, so I didn't sign up. My comeback won't be a full-time entry in every event, I'll have to selectively pick the races I want to play. ”