"Sometimes you think, 'What am I doing here?'" - Adrian Lewis speaks candidly about walking away from competitive darts

Adrian Lewis' hiatus from the PDC Tour looks set to continue has he opens up about the chances of him making a highly anticipated comeback to darts. While he mentioned the Challenge Tour as a possible solution, his main motive was to get back to enjoying the sport once more after walking away from it back in 2023.

Lewis updated his current situation when chatting to Oche180. "Very, very good, mate," he began. "I’m putting a bit of work in now and just trying to build myself back up again, doing a lot of exhibitions and corporate events, and just enjoying life in general."

While some days are good, others are not on the oche. "To be fair, I’m having some really good days, and other times it’s not so good. But, like I say, I’m just enjoying each day as it comes, really."

A really good day was when he threw a nine-darter with Nathan Aspianll's darts. "So, this is what happened. Basically, I was probably about three weeks off, and we went on holiday for a week. I came back and my dad had left his darts in my dartboard, so I thought, 'What the hell?' I’m so glad he got them. I think I threw a 41, maybe a 45 next, and then I went 180, 180, treble 20, treble 19 and double 12. I couldn’t believe it myself, to be honest."

'Jackpot' was one of the most talented darts players in his pomp, but in this current day a nine-dart effort is seen more as luck. "I think it’s more luck than judgement, to be fair, but yeah, I just whacked them in," he said.

While he still plays occasionally, Lewis is not one for regularly tuning in to the live action. "I’m not an avid watcher," he commented. "I think I’m more of a person who looks at all the results, sees who’s doing what and where people’s games are at. I just look at it live, really. I don’t watch all of it."

When he does watch it, Luke Littler is always someone he will keep an eye on. The 19-year-old sensation continues to make strides in the sport with his domination coming up to unprecedented levels.

Lewis was quick to sing his praises. "He’s come onto the scene. First off, I’d have to say what a breath of fresh air he’s been. I think for him to come in and do what he’s done, I don’t think there’s anybody else in the world who could have done that."

He was in absolute awe of the teenage sensation. "I just think he’s been brilliant, hasn’t he? Like I say, I can’t really speak highly enough of him."

Not just his ability on the oche, but how he has blocked all the otusie noise and pressure is something that has impressed Lewis. "I think, first off, I first met him before he’d won the Worlds or anything else, and that was through Target," he explained. "I can remember saying to my wife, 'He’s got a good arm and shoulders, that lad there.' But obviously, I didn’t know to what extent he would go on to achieve what he’s done now."

He acknowledged his great family and team helping and supporting him. "First off, I think his family as well. I think that’s important. I think he’s got a good family around him. And now with Gary looking after him as well, he’s also been around for years and has got all that experience. He’s in great hands. He’s playing the best out of anybody. There’s nobody even really coming close to him at the minute, which is probably a scary thought considering he’s only, what, 19? And I think there’s still a lot more to come from him. I really do. I think he can improve."

Speaking on that World Matchplay display where Littler averaged 111.04 for the entire tournament in Blackpool, Lewis had him among the greats already. "He’s definitely in the top four, isn’t he? Top four or five, yeah, definitely. Probably even higher than that, really. Top three, maybe.

"Like I say, he just shows how much he’s done. His averages and the scoring power he’s got are unmatched. But, as you said before, I think you could keep up with him on a consistent basis. There are only really a few players who are keeping up with him on a consistent basis. Everybody else is in and out. They can beat him on the floor, but then when it gets to the biggest stages and the TV events, they fold like deck chairs. I don’t know what else to say."

It would not be a conversation with Lewis without asking about his Tour Card aspirations. While he wants to come back and compete, the 41-year-old is starting to go against the idea of challenging for a Tour Card at Q-School in January.

"I’ve fully-fledged the commitment. I think what I want to do at the minute is just build myself back up," he stated. What I would do, I don’t think I’d go back, even if I could go back and get my Tour Card. I don’t really want that this time."

The main thing is to enjoy it. "What I’d rather do is build myself back up, do the Challenge Tour and just work my way back into the competition side of things again first. Just enjoy it. Make sure you enjoy it, because I don’t want to get a Tour Card and then, in six months’ time, think, 'Oh, I regret my decision.' I want to play on the competition side of things again first, then just see where I fare and where my game’s at."

He touched on the reasons for leaving the PDC Tour back in 2023. "There were a number of things, really. For one, I needed a break mentally. That was important to me," he said. "As people know, my wife’s got an incurable kidney disease, so we were spending a lot of time in hospital. My daughter’s got a number of things, including ADHD, autism and high-level needs. Because I was away five or six days a week, I really couldn’t be there as much as I wanted to. Sometimes you think, 'What am I doing here?' That was after the battle as well. I thought, 'I need a break,' and then we’d just reset, hit the reset button and push on from there, really."

While it was a tough decision, he stood by it. "It was a tough decision, but I knew at the time, mentally, that I needed that break. The results, to be fair, had been good. A couple of months before I even stepped away, I’d won a Pro Tour event. That’s no easy feat. It wasn’t like my form was bad or anything like that."

Lewis went on to discuss the origin of his stage nickname. "I was over there for the Desert Classic. In those days, I think it was the top 16 who qualified, and then there were 16 qualifiers. You went over there to take your chance to qualify for the Classic. Luckily enough, the two or three—maybe three or four—times I went over there, I was lucky enough to qualify for it.

"I was with a lad called Steve Baird, an Irish fella. We’d won a bit of money. He’d probably won a bit, and I’d won five or six hundred dollars on roulette and things like that. I never once got asked for ID, even though I was only 20 at the time. I think he might have been playing blackjack or something like that, and I thought, 'I’ll just have a quick one on this machine,' because I was going upstairs to get ready for the night."

That is when he won big. "So, I started playing on this machine. The next minute, the machine froze. I was thinking, 'What’s going on?' because the lines weren’t in the middle; they were going diagonally. Then somebody walked past—it was some kind of cleaner or something—and he said, 'You’ve won a big jackpot.'”

Lewis then had to think on his feet if he wanted to keep any of the $72,000. "The next minute, I knew straight away they were going to ask me for ID. So I said, 'Quick, come here, Steve. Quick, come here.' Anyway, he started packing up his chips and came over. I said, “Right, I’ve won this jackpot.” He was like, 'Oh my God, 72?' I said, 'Yeah.' I said, 'I’ll tell you what to do. You claim it. I’ll have you tapped and I’ll sort you a bit of money out of it.'"

In the end, Lewis never saw any of that money. "So, anyway, going back there, they started threatening me with arrest and all that. What happened was, I waited by the elevators, and then I saw the cashier come over with a few security guards. They started pointing at me, and I thought, “Oh no,” because I was on CCTV, obviously.

"Then he asked for my passport, and I gave it to him. They came back and realised I was underage at the time. I was over there with my mother and things like that, and then they were asking where she was because I could get arrested. It was all kicking off."

Lewis has enjoyed a very memorable career with many ups, but also some notable downs. One of the most iconic ones was when he stormed off the stage after a spat with Peter Manley at the 2006 PDC World Darts Championship.

"He’d obviously given me a lot of grief backstage and everything else, like Pete does anyway," Lewis divulged. "But when we were up there, every time I was throwing, I could hear him muttering things and saying stuff. I just got to the point where I thought, 'Why does he keep doing that?'"

He tried to take matters into his own hands. "I gave him a couple of dirty looks at first, and then he carried on. I thought, 'Oh, that’s it.' I turned around, and we were having a full-on row. I just told him to shut up or take a breather, and then I walked off the stage."

Not his finest moment looking back, but still a golden darting memory for many darts fans. "Yeah, I just walked off. It’s embarrassing when you’re looking back."