Hempel struggled with health problems recently: 'I walked like a 95-year-old'

Florian Hempel commented on the New Zealand Darts Masters for German broadcaster DAZN last weekend. Co-commentator Elmar Paulke asked him during the broadcast how he was doing and how he got through the past month.

The German darter then told us that he has been dealing with health problems. "I actually had a kind of lumbago last week, a hernia. I was walking like a 95-year-old. I went to the doctor last Friday, got an injection and took medication over the weekend. Since Monday, Tuesday I am walking reasonably straight again. I am also practicing again.''

Earlier, Hempel also had to contend with an injury to his throwing arm, which meant the Cologne native was barely able to practice.

''The form is also not as constant as before,'' Hempel also admitted. "For me it is just a matter of passing the time and from October onwards I will prepare for the last six Players Championship tournaments. Then I will spend six, eight, ten hours every day at the practice board."

Hempel has a good motivating reason to follow through with this intention. "I would like to make it to the World Championship, and I would like to do that through the Pro Tour. I'm at a disadvantage, but it's still doable. It's in my own hands. With one or two good results, I could take a lot of the pressure off.

As optimistic as Hempel's plans sound, nothing really seemed to go right for him in recent months. He was eliminated quite early in both Pro Tour tournaments and the Euro Tour tournaments.

"Sometimes I feel like I can't get into the match at all. I don't know if I can get into the match or how it works. Can I get a feel for it or not? That was definitely the case for a while, especially in the months of April and May. Then I went into certain matches thinking: 'Now it will not work again'. It's not that easy mentally," concludes Hempel.