“I feel like I could be closer to the end of my career than I think” – Ryan Joyce openly reflects on his life after darts

Ryan Joyce takes a realistic look at his future on the PDC ProTour. The Englishman realizes his career is not guaranteed to run long and is seriously considering a plan B for the first time.

Joyce made a solid start to the season with a quarterfinal at the Belgium Darts Open, but his form on the floor remains inconsistent. In the first ten Players Championship events, the Newcastle man never got past the third round.

As the world number 26, Joyce has yet to convince at the majors. At the PDC World Darts Championship he suffered an early exit in the second round, and he also went out immediately at the World Masters.

The 40-year-old Englishman admits those results have made him think about the future. “I’ve never really thought about that before,” Joyce told Sawyer Darts. “I have always been determined to make it in darts. Now that I am older and I have had a few bad weeks on the tour, I feel like I could be closer to the end of my career than I think.”

Joyce acknowledges he could lose his Tour Card in the coming years and might have to change direction. “I have started to think about what I can do if I lose my Tour Card in the next couple of years and have to do something else. I will still only be in my early 40s. I will have to do something else to make money, wouldn’t I."

His plans are far from concrete, but he sees options through his network. “I would probably ask friends or my dart manager, who has got his own businesses and things. I could probably get a job helping him. It would not be anything exciting. I haven’t got hidden qualifications for a job or anything like that.”

Alongside his sporting search, Joyce did claim a personal win: he overcame his fear of flying, which had dogged him for years on tour. “I was going nowhere in the rankings, not playing the Euro Tours, it was ridiculous. As soon as I conquered the fear, I moved up quite a few places.”

Thanks to his position on the ProTour Order of Merit, he now qualifies automatically for all European Tour events. “So, I have to go to all of them. Now that I automatically qualify, I need to win a game to get it on the rankings.”

His new routine helps him stay relaxed during flights. “I don’t like sudden movements and I like my feet on the ground. I don’t like travelling fast. It was different things like that which made me feel really nervous."

“Now when I get on a plane, I have researched how planes work. I have watched so many videos of pilots talking about exactly what happens and why a plane feels like it does at certain times. I have done all the research and I have some noise-cancelling headphones now. I have programmed my phone with music. I just put my headphones on and concentrate on my phone — no problems. The last 12–18 months have been much better.”