Nicholson recalls Taylor rivalry following 2011 UK Open: "There was some genuine animosity between us"

One of the most infamous moments of Paul Nicholson's time at the top of darts came during the 2011 UK Open when he waved Phil Taylor off the stage.

He recalled that moment recently and said that for a time, there was animosity on the part of Taylor as he didn't take to defeats well.

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“In that moment, I had double eight with three darts [to win], I knew I was hitting it. I did think ‘what am I going to do to make this a moment?’ because that’s what sportspeople do,” he told the Darts Show Podcast.  

“The Ronaldos, the Tiger Woods, they have ‘moments’. That was my moment. I thought ‘I’m going to win this and people are going to remember it’. I’m going to take the lie away from it now. I told Dave Clark [of Sky Sports] a lie at the time [when asked about the wave in an interview], but I did wave him off. I thought ‘I’m going to make this about me, this is not about you, this is about me’.

“I waved at him, then I high fived someone in the crowd, then I walked over and shook his hand. And he hated me. I thought ‘you can hate me all you want, but I’m the one going through to the quarters.”

He added: “For a small period of 2011 there was some genuine animosity between us. It wasn’t on my part because I was the one who was beating him. I’d beaten him in two televised events by the odd leg. He didn’t like the fact I’d beaten him. They were very costly defeats for him because, at the time, has at his height, borderline unbeatable.”