Stephen Hendry has insisted his comeback isn't over, despite suffering a comprehensive defeat to James Cahill in qualifying for the World Championship.
Having initially retired from professional snooker in 2012, Hendry made a sensational return to the tour in 2020.
However, the seven-time world champion has barely featured this season – often opting to skip events in order to keep other commitments – and he began qualifying for the Crucible having only played three professional matches all season.
That lack of competitive action certainly showed as he was trounced 10-4 by James Cahill on Wednesday, struggling to find anything like the consistency needed to keep pace with his younger opponent.
However, a brilliant hundred break in the opening frame – the 777th century of his career – gave a firm reminder of his capabilities and Hendry insists he is keen to keep playing, should World Snooker decide to hand him another tour wildcard.
Hendry told World Snooker Tour: "I definitely want to play on. As I always stress, it isn’t a comeback. I’m not going to play three or four hours a day and enter every event.
"I will play in the events that I can, with my other commitments. I love to play and in a perverse way it is fun.
"I just played too many bad shots and when you follow one bad shot with another it snowballs a bit. I started off great, two doubles in a century is good because I am the worst doubler in the world.
"There were little bits and pieces here and there, but generally there were too many unforced errors. That is something I criticise players for when I am commentating.
"It is still a very distant dream in the future that one day I’ll walk out at the Crucible again. It is very doubtful and huge odds against, but that is the dream."