“My wife’s probably got no nails left” – Damon Heta survives thriller at Alexandra Palace with comeback win

Damon Heta had to dig deep at the 2026 PDC World Darts Championship, battling his way into the third round with a comeback win over Stefan Bellmont. The Australian, long established among the PDC’s regular contenders, offered an unusually candid insight into a match that was anything but straightforward. Fatigue, difficult stage conditions and an opponent who kept taking his chances turned it into a genuine war of attrition. Heta eventually came through, and the relief was unmistakable.

“Drained. A little bit drained,” Heta admitted immediately afterwards. He joked that he had only eaten two bananas and felt as though all his energy had been sapped. “Nothing felt in rhythm, nothing felt the same. In the practice room everything felt perfect, and then you come out here and it felt like opening an oven door.” The conditions, he said, were impossible to ignore.

According to Heta, the contrast between the warm-up area and the stage could hardly have been greater. “In the practice room everything’s great. Perfect conditions. You come out on stage and it’s hot, your hands are sweating, everything feels different.” He added that the air felt stale and heavy, something he had not experienced in the same way during his first match of the tournament. “I don’t know why. Someone needs to open a window or something.”

Still, Heta was quick to rule out excuses. “We were both in the same conditions, so that’s no excuse. He took a lot of chances as well.” While he acknowledged that it was not a match of the highest technical quality, he suspected it made for compelling viewing. “I dare say it was probably entertaining to watch. My wife’s probably got no nails left.”

The statistics reflected Heta’s struggles early on, opening the match with a 73 average in the first set. What changed was not the darts, but the mindset. “It’s the fight,” he explained. “That’s what got me going. I didn’t think it would be like this. I’d heard it was warm, but I didn’t think it would be that warm. Then I went out there and thought, ‘Oh jeez.’”

Heta regrouped and simplified everything. “I got my mindset right and I’m like, ‘Right, you’ve got to fight here. You’ve got to battle.’ Forget about that. Throw the darts. What feels good, just let it rip.” That approach carried him through a deciding set and over the line.

At the end of the match, Heta’s reaction said everything. Known for his composed demeanour, this was a rare moment of visible release. “I worked hard — really worked hard — to get an opportunity,” he said. “When it comes, you’ve got to take it, bloody take it.”

One moment stood out. “There was a crucial time where he missed two darts and I took it. I was like, ‘Oh yes.’ I worked really hard and I reaped some rewards.” The pride was clear. “I’m just really proud.”

One of the talking points of Heta’s tournament has been his decision to return to his original darts. It was a deliberate reset. “With my originals I stuck with them for a few years and things were pretty good,” he explained. “Then you start looking for percentages, changing little things, thinking maybe this will get you over the line.”

The experimentation did not bring the results he wanted. “It hasn’t worked out to where I’d like it to be. I looked back and thought, my best stats are with these, my best performances are with these. So I just went back to them. That was my mindset.”

His philosophy is straightforward. “Keep it simple, stupid,” Heta said. “You can overdo it, you can tinker with too many things. I wasn’t naive to give it a try, but it didn’t work. Back to the originals, bit of confidence with it, and that’s where it’s at.”

Heta has carried the banner for Australian darts for years, but this championship feels like a turning point. Watching compatriot Joe Comito win on the big stage was a powerful moment. “I was so proud,” Heta said. “I was sitting pretty much by myself watching it and giving it everything.”

He sees a broader pattern emerging. “That came off the back of the ANZ Premier League. They’ve got stage experience now, they know what it’s about.” His hope is that this momentum continues. “Hopefully it brings more noise, more atmosphere, and we get that conveyor belt of brilliant players coming through again.”

Heta did not lead the match until the deciding set, where he produced a ton-plus average under maximum pressure. “I’m the proudest person on myself,” he said. “If I didn’t come through that, no one would have been harder on me than myself.”

Preparation, he insists, is non-negotiable. “I leave no stone unturned. That’s with any tournament. For me to come out like that just proves everything I’ve done has worked.” It may not have been pretty, but it mattered. “I battled really hard and I know I’ve got the stones.”

After Christmas, Heta faces a daunting challenge against former world champion Rob Cross. He knows exactly what is required. “I’ve got to step my game up. There’s no two ways about it,” he said. “My checkout percentage is half-decent, that’s been my main game for a while. And I know I can score.”

Respect is clear, but so is belief. “He’s a world champion, he knows what it’s about. It’s definitely an uphill battle for myself,” Heta admitted. “But if it all comes together, it’s going to be a tough job for Rob as well.”