Rob Cross looks forward to the calm after the storm

Since his shock Ally Pally victory, Cross has been under constant pressure to kick on. Away from the oche, there have been peaks and troughs. In an interview with , Voltage admitted that being the PDC world champion had been hard to get his head around. "I'm not being funny, it's been a surreal experience. It was like I watched someone walk from my body last December and beat Michael van Gerwen and Phil Taylor and pick up that trophy," he said. "It has been a weird out of body experience in some ways. I’ve sort of watched the world whizz around me like I’m in some sort of liquidiser. "I can't explain it properly. From last January I’ve been sucked up by some tornado of attention and expectation and I think I’ve dealt with it OK."

Cross' stint as reigning world champion is now over. Luke Humphries put an end to it, sealing a superb win in the last 16 at the Alexandra Palace. The tournament was won in the end by Michael van Gerwen, a player Cross cites as an inspiration, albeit someone on a different path to his own.
"You have to remember this is why I admire the likes of MVG and Gary Anderson. They have spent a decade or so building up to their World Championship wins.
"They have learnt to deal with the pressures of being World Champion before it finally arrives and sort of embraced their achievements.
"But for me it came in 22 months. It was like winning a game show or the lottery and suddenly being thrust into the spotlight overnight," Cross said.
"That’s no problem for me. I know I can handle that pressure. But there are hidden pressures which you don’t know exist until you are in the limelight."

Family life was a casualty as Cross started life as the champion of the world. The harassment he suffered over social media has been well documented. The impact on his children was something Cross kept to himself throughout. Now the Hastings man can focus on the important things in life. "I was taken out of my family life overnight. I was there every morning, every night of my kids' lives, I would watch TV with them, see them in their beds before they slept. "For a month after winning the Worlds I had hardly seen them. They don’t understand that, they just feel like someone has stolen their dad! "I think they have suffered for my win in some ways. It’s given them financial security but not emotional security strangely. He added: "This next few weeks will allow me to get back to basics of life and that’s vital for me and my family. I can re-group and become the Rob Cross I was a year ago."