Simon Whitlock has been in superb form at times during the past 18 months and is seemingly going through another renaissance in his darting career.
The Coronavirus pandemic in particular has had a big impact on the lives of many including in the darting world but for Whitlock, there are some positives to take away.
“Lockdown really helped me improve my whole game. I usually take part in plenty of online darts competitions but since the restrictions came in I’ve entered loads and discovered so much about myself," said Whitlock to Darts World.
“When I’m normally in a match I’m constantly watching what the other person is doing but with online darts you can’t. So instead I just pretended I was playing a computer and focused solely on my own game. It really took the pressure off and made a huge difference.”
Despite alluding to potential retirement recently, Whitlock said that the plan is to keep going for as long as he can barring if he lost his Tour Card.
“Right now I feel absolutely fine. It can be tough at times and it’s a very busy schedule but I try to stay fit. I work out a few times with the gym equipment I have at home and go on long walks with Blue, my French bulldog. But if I ever lost my tour card I don’t think I would go to Q-School, it’s just too hard on my ageing body!
“When I do decide to call it a day on the oche, I think I will move somewhere hot like Spain or Thailand."
"My dream is to buy a small farm or ranch where I can have lots of animals and grow my own fruit and veggies. Yeah, that is the life for me once I hang up the darts case.”