Mason discusses darting elite looking 'fried' due to PDC Calendar: "You've got to manage your life a little bit"

Chris Mason's lengthy chat with Online Darts also touched upon the subject of burnout with many of the darting elite not looking at their sharpest and in the words of the former World Championship semi-finalist 'fried'.

For Mason, he believes that comes down to managing their diary and deciding to play constantly including exhibitions and that Gary Anderson is the perfect example of managing it.

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"They look a bit fried. You've got to manage your life a little bit, you've got to manage your diary. Unfortunately for them, they're in this industry that whatever they do, it's reported on. They're running around doing exhibitions when they've got time off, what are you doing that for. You don't need to. Leave them to when you've got a quiet period," he said to Online Darts. 

"When Gary (Anderson) says that's pretty much it, he'll be on the road earning an absolute fortune. Under no pressure, enjoying all those years of hard work. When you've got such a heavy workload especially with the important ones, Gary doesn't play the European Tours for that reason. You will get burnout, it's all about managing your diary. Staying as healthy as possible, watching your late nights and watching what you eat.

"Why not just plan your diary better. That's what you've got a manager for, I understand that they're all chasing a pound note but it's not what it was like years ago. We were working on a Thursday, fly out to America on Friday, play in everything, fly back Monday and go back to work Tuesday. Chasing a couple of 1000 bucks because you had to get the ranking points. Matchplay was about £12,000 a winner. I'm absolutely over the moon about it but I would have loved the opportunity that you could have the choice."

"In one sense I've got plenty of sympathy for them. It's a tough schedule and if you've got sponsors, they won't look on it favourably if they're missing TV events. But then they also have to think what's best for the player. You can't keep going and moan that you're tired and in between you're doing exhibitions."