James Wade is a true World Matchplay stalwart having won the title once and reached the final on five other occasions.

For Wade, he believes the reason why he plays so well at the Winter Gardens (usually) is due to it being his favourite format due to it being legs instead of sets which he said is a 'true reflection' on form.

"It's my favourite format," Wade said during an appearance on The Darts Show podcast.

"It was my favourite tournament. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to think of it this year, with where it's being held. Obviously with no crowd, it's just going to be different.

"The Winter Gardens [in Blackpool] to me is a special venue, and the last of the old darts venues. So it's a shame this year that it's not going to be there, but hopefully next year it will return back to where it should be."

"In my opinion it's the best format in the world," he continued.

"It's a true reflection of how you're playing. It's not like sets - sets are a lost world in my opinion because you can win more legs and lose the game. I never understood that.

"Match format is the best format. You're first to a certain amount of legs and that's it, it's done.

"In sets you can play like a game-play, you can rest back and let that set go. And then come back when it's your throw. But match-format, you can't hide."

From 10 hours practice to winning an event during PDC Summer Series

Wade had a good run-up to the World Matchplay claiming victory in a PDC Summer Series event and he revealed that he only had 10 hours practice in the run up; with 'The Machine' deciding to put family time ahead of time on the board.

"I'm someone who doesn't practice a great deal. I probably did about 10 hours' practice in the three months! And then I went back this week very cold, and it seemed to pretty much take off," he said.

"So I think that's done me good. I was worried, because I hardly touched darts in three months. A lot of players had been doing a lot of online tournaments, practising online against each other. But for me it was an excuse not to play darts.

"I'm enjoying myself, getting into family life, spending a lot of time with Arthur and Samantha.

"It was a relief when I got to the venue and I started playing darts, and I was still hitting doubles, still hitting trebles. And on the fourth day to win one was just, 'you can still play even though you've had three months off'. So it was a good positive for me.

"It was nice. Just nice to tick the box again, to know you can still do it. The standard was good over that day, from what I was told. It just reassures you, and puts a few things to rest."