Stephen Hendry Prepares for Snooker Comeback: A Date Night of Pints and Cigars with His Wife!

STEPHEN HENDRY will return to competitive snooker for the first time since January 2024 today – and he prepared for his comeback in unusual fashion.

The seven-time world champion is set to face Neil Robertson in the inaugural 900 Crucible Cup.

The best-of-11 clash, which will involve each frame being capped at 15 minutes, will take place at the Crucible Sports & Social Club in Reading.

And there are no signs of Hendry having any nerves as he gets ready for the showdown with world No3 Robertson.

That is because the Scotsman took to Instagram to post snaps of him sipping pints of Guinness and smoking cigars after enjoying a date night with wife Lauren Thoms.

Hendry’s controversial return to competitive action has divided opinion among some of snooker’s biggest names.

and suggested that Robertson will cruise to a 6-0 thumping.

But Ronnie O’Sullivan has refused to rule out Hendry causing an upset and progressing in the competition, where there is a £70,000 prize pot.

The former world No1 was in September 2020 – eight years after initially announcing his retirement.

But Hendry’s decision to focus on his work as a TV commentator has resulted in him not being in competitive action since facing Ross Muir in the first round of the Welsh Open close to two years ago.

He will feature in the two-day 900 Crucible Cup alongside Robertson, Williams, John Higgins, Mark Selby, Barry Hawkins, Gary Wilson and Xiao Guodong.

has won 36 professional ranking championships, including 18 Triple Crown titles, and also spent nine seasons as the highest-ranked player in the world.

He has remained the only competitor to have clinched each of the sport’s Triple Crown prizes during the same season twice.

But Hendry is aware that he is facing an uphill battle to rediscover that kind of form.

He recently rated as the “best ball-striker I have ever seen playing snooker”.

Eze Chidiebere Paul

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