Stephen Hendry says he will “probably” make his sensational return to professional snooker next month.

The seven-times world champion revealed he was looking at February’s Welsh Open as a possible tournament for which to mark his dramatic comeback into the sport.

The news was revealed when Hendry joined Eurosport snooker presenter Andy Goldstein in a live Instagram chat on Wednesday afternoon from his home.

The Welsh Open – one of snooker’s most established ranking events – is due to start on February 15 at a venue to be confirmed.

When asked by a fan when ‘Crucible King’ Hendry was planning to make a comeback, the snooker legend said: “Probably the Welsh Open.”

Hendry also said he was looking at playing the new Pro Series event in March, which World Snooker Tour announced at the end of 2020.

Last year Hendry took the snooker world by storm when he announced he would be coming out of retirement following an impressive semi-final run in the World Seniors Championship in August.

Since then Hendry has been working closely with SightRight coach Stephen Feeney – a man who has coached recent world champions Stuart Bingham, Mark Williams and Ronnie O’Sullivan – to get his game back to a top standard.

However despite the headline announcement, Hendry has not yet featured in the 2020/21 snooker season.

He was planning a return for the UK Championship but announced a delay to his comeback in November because he wanted to play in front of a crowd and not behind closed doors and stated at the time his game was not yet ready.

But the likelihood of fans returning to live snooker events by the time the Welsh Open starts is almost impossible with both England and Wales in lockdown until mid-February at least.