"You always get somebody that says that 'he's past it and that' and I'm like no I'm not": Gary Anderson draws motivation from doubters to prolong career

Gary Anderson shows little sign of doubt toward the new darts season. On the contrary: the Scot gets his motivation from the scepticism of others. The now 54-year-old two-time world champion makes it clear that he feels far from being written off.

Anderson has not reached a final at the 2021 PDC World Darts Championship since the lost World Championship final against Gerwyn Price, but is convinced that a third major title is in the cards. "It would be nice to win one more title," said Anderson to Sky Sports.

"Usually I'm quite happy. A couple of weeks back, I was quite happy to go you know what? I've done my job on that. Then people started talking, 'oh, he's done, he's this, he'll never do it' and that fires me back up, and I can't stop playing. I keep carrying on.

The Scot emphasises that he does not have the same training intensity as in his heyday, but sees that as a relativising factor rather than a limitation. "I don't put as much time into it but I'm still managing to play with the top players with the amount that I've played darts. I know that I do well for where my game is, so I just plug on now, don't I? Just plug on."

Anderson won a title on both the ProTour and European Tour in 2025 and seems to be building form at the right time. With a third world title, he would join Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen as players with three world titles under his belt. That prospect acts as extra fuel. "I think if everyone was nice and said 'yeah, yeah, yeah' I probably would just drift away and stop playing.

"But you always get somebody that says that 'he's past it and that' and I'm like no I'm not.

Financially, too, the level has risen unprecedentedly. Prize money for the World Championship winner now stands at one million pounds, something Anderson could not have predicted years ago. "I mean, a million pounds, fantastic. You never would have thought it was going to be that and Barry [Hearn] is good at what he does.

"He loves his darts, and he's pushed it, and he's pushed it, and he's pushed it. And it's now probably the biggest game on the planet so it is good.

Yet for the Scot, it's not just about numbers. The days when he approaches Alexandra Palace remain special. "I know the talk is about changing it but when you drive up that hill and you see Ally Pally sitting up there in the hill, that's what gets your juices flowing. That's what it's all about," he added.

"The whole year doesn't really matter. It's all about December, the World Championships. The whole year, if you're playing bad, it doesn't matter. You have still got that big one. If you can't get yourself up for that, then you shouldn't be playing the game.

After more than two decades at the world's top, Anderson is grateful for what the sport has brought him. "Even if you go back five years, what we were getting paid, we thought we would never be going to Australia, Dubai, China, Japan, everywhere playing darts.

"We've seen the world. I have done it all and travelling's getting a bit hard for me, but with playing darts, I've seen the world.

"So, by playing a game that I love playing, I have got to see parts of the world that I probably would never have seen anyway so it has been great."

For Anderson, the upcoming World Darts Championship begins on Saturday, Dec. 13, with a duel against Adam Hunt. With a win over the Englishman, he will play Connor Scutt or Simon Whitlock in the second round.