With fans set to return to darting arenas during the coming weeks and months, who emerges out of the Coronavirus pandemic raring to go and who has some work to do still? Wayne Mardle discussed the leading lights in the sport and the main stories to look out for going forward.
Speaking on the launch of his new book, Slinging Arrows, he ran the rule over the current Premier League crop such as Michael van Gerwen and Dimitri van den Bergh.
“Things have changed and things are changing all the time. What I want to put out there straight away is if they all play well Van Gerwen is still the best player and I think he’s proven that in the Premier League," he said to DartsNews.com.
"If you’ve watched him like I have on a weekly or daily basis or however it’s been run over the past few years, it’s amazing to think he’s top of the pile because at points he’s been so far off his best, it’s incredible."
“But that shows you if he plays well, he wins. Dimitri van den Bergh is in my opinion a World Number One, a World champion in waiting. Gerwyn Price is going to be there for I think five, six or seven years maybe more. James Wade is going nowhere.
"Jonny Clayton who knows how how long this run lasts. Jose de Sousa, we don’t know is he going to fade away as quickly as he’s come.”
“Rob Cross what’s happened there. He’s just 30. Michael Smith has still got a massive part to play but then you’ve got Joe Cullen who’s I think not near his best and when he gets to his best, I think he will have a say in World Championships.”
“I don’t see many youngsters coming through, but Nathan Aspinall has got to be mentioned as a possible winner of everything now.”
Durrant's downturn and future of Scottish duo Anderson and Wright
The former World Championship semi-finalist also discussed the future of Gary Anderson and Peter Wright as well as two players who are on a downturn in Adrian Lewis and Glen Durrant and what the future holds.
“It’s interesting because Gary Anderson and Peter Wright, I’m not going to say they are yesterday’s men. They can win of course they can win, but do they have the fight that these guys have got now. But the next few years are going to be exciting," he continued.
“I wish I knew nothing lasts forever. Because Adrian Lewis is still a relatively young man, people think he’s going to get back to where he was. It doesn’t work that way. I’d love Adrian to come back firing on all cylinders because the world of darts is better with him in it.”
“Glen Durrant who we’ve seen really struggle. I’m hoping that confidence crisis diminishes and we see him back to his best but it’s a brutal sport, you’re out there on your own. You feel poor about your game, your lacking confidence, there is absolutely no-one to pick you up when it’s happening because it’s you and the board.”
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