“He’s probably going to be in the top four in the world” - Jonny Clayton tips Wessel Nijman for major glory after ending his World Grand Prix hopes

Jonny Clayton booked his place in the World Grand Prix quarter-finals with a convincing 3–1 victory over Wessel Nijman. The Welshman was much happier with his performance than after his first-round win, impressing with both his scoring and finishing.

“Yeah, 100%. Everything went my way there,” Clayton said in his post-match press conference, where DartsNews.com were present when asked whether he felt better than after his opening match. “Even if I didn’t get off, my scoring was there. You need the doubling and scoring, but my finishing was good. If I could put them all together, it’d be brilliant, wouldn’t it?”

His performance was not entirely flawless. Clayton missed starting doubles in several legs, but more than compensated with his scoring and finishing. Eight 180s and four ton-plus checkouts kept Nijman under pressure.

“There were a few blips in my starting, but most of the game was good. My finishing was good. End of,” said Clayton, who averaged 93.08. “It’s a good average in double-in, double-out, and I did miss a few doubles when trying to start off. But the average doesn’t really matter, does it? It’s the W behind the game. All you want is the win.”

Nijman nevertheless made the former World Grand Prix champion work hard, and Clayton was generous in his praise of the Dutchman. “Wessel Nijman, he’s a great dart player, a brilliant dart player,” he said. “He’s probably going to be in the top four in the world in the next three or four years. He’s that good.”

Clayton felt the match turned on the opportunities Nijman missed, with the Welshman repeatedly ready to punish him. His 125 checkout was among the standout finishes.

“When you miss, say, 32 with three darts and somebody takes out 125, like I took out 125 tonight, that really hurts,” Clayton explained. “It really does hurt because he knows he should have won that leg. It’s happened to me, and it will happen time and time again.”

He has no doubt that Nijman will eventually add major television titles to his collection. “Oh, a million per cent. He’s too good not to. He’s brilliant,” Clayton said. “Look at the young guns coming through and performing week in, week out. He is one of them. He’s a brilliant dart player, a great guy.”

Clayton, meanwhile, hopes to add another major title to his own record after some time without one.

“It would be nice to have another one under my belt. I’m always chasing. I never give up,” he said. “I always say, ‘If I don’t win today, I’ll try again tomorrow.’ That’s what I do. When I’m up on that stage, I love every second of it, and that’s all that counts. I think when the day comes that I don’t enjoy it, then I’m in trouble.”

His approach to the rest of the tournament remains straightforward. “You have to win the next game, and if you can’t win the next game, you don’t have to worry about winning the tournament,” Clayton explained. “Obviously, we all want to win the tournament, but there’s a game or two before that. I concentrate on my next game and try to win that, then worry about the next game and try to win that.”