VIDEO | "I don't think there's another dart player in the world who's as tough as me mentally" - Nathan Aspinall looking to stick two fingers up at doubters

Nathan Aspinall made hard work of it on Wednesday night, but 'The Asp' eventually saw off Leonard Gates at the Alexandra Palace 3-1 to start off his 2025 PDC World Darts Championship campaign with a winning and ensure a post-Christmas return.

"I'm relieved," Aspinall exhales to kick off his post-match press conference. "It was a very tough game that. I felt really good coming into the tournament, I thought I was going to play Cameron (Menzies ed.) so I kind of geared up for three weeks to play Cammy. I thought it was going to be like tiger versus tiger on the stage you know, bouncing around. But obviously, Leonard won and fair play to him." 

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Although the match was far from an Ally Pally classic, for Aspinall, just getting the winning was the most important thing, especially after his disappointing first round defeat last year to Ricky Evans. "I think you've seen it with Peter Wright and Gerwyn Price early on in the tournament. I think we've had a lot of scrutiny, a lot of abuse over the last six months because we've been playing rubbish," Aspinall continues. "We know there's a lot of eyes on this tournament and we want to prove how good we are and to play well and go deep in the tournament."

And this extra pressure is the reason for Aspinall's slightly below par performance, despite his victory. "It was purely down to putting too much pressure on myself. But, I won the game. it wasn't pretty but I'm here and I've won," he adds. "I can enjoy Christmas and come back hopefully a better Nathan Aspinall."

Aspinall battled to a gruelling victory over Leonard Gates

Another issue 'The Asp' had to deal with was the flu, not helping matters as he struggles to produce his best form on the big stage. "Don't get your little violin out, but I'm not well," he explains. "But also, after last year, I so wanted to win. We had the worst Christmas ever (last year ed.), it was so hard watching everyone else play. I've got eight days now you know, I can go back and get myself fit."

"I've had an awful year, but I'm a good dart player and people don't see me as a good dart player you know. There's a lot of people out there that write me off and it grates on me, because I know how good I am. But it's down to me to produce that and I'm not producing it," Aspinall continues, frustrated by the abuse he's received from a certain section of darts fans. "I think I had a great opportunity tonight to go up there and show the world what I'm made of and I thought that's what I was going to do. I'm disappointed in myself but also, I've won and I'm in the next round so it's mixed emotions."

"I don't think there's another dart player in the world who's as tough as me mentally," he concludes. "When people give me abuse, I use it as ammo and stick two fingers up at them. Because that's what it is, it's people that put a pound on you. It's always to do with betting."

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