Two-time world champion Adrian Lewis can come back stronger after taking a break from darts

Adrian Lewis is really popular within the sport and everyone loves to watch him play, so this news was very disappointing – but for those who know him well, this wasn’t really a massive surprise.

There’s been some issues at home, his wife hasn’t been well and I’m not sure darts is his first priority at the moment. That’s not to question his commitment to the sport – he’s given it everything for over 20 years!

All the factors going in his personal life at the moment aren’t allowing him to perform at the level he wants to – and that’s very frustrating for a player who has reached such highs throughout his career and wants to get there again.

He’s currently ranked between 30 and 40 in the world so that doesn’t sit right with him. He genuinely believes in his heart that he’s the best in the world at what he does and the reality of right now is hard to swallow. He hasn’t got a formula in work and personal life that culminates in him becoming best in the world again.

A lot of players have got many things cracked from playing schedules, practice, management and sponsorships to fitness, diet, family life and psychology. Adrian’s situation has a few troubles and difficulties that need to be sorted out ahead of darts currently.

There have been times where he’s qualified for a few European Tour events but didn’t go to them, so there have been some clues along the way that being away from home wasn’t making him happy.

Adrian has had so much going on over the last few years including a court case with Keith Deller about management which can’t have been easy so he’ll want to use this time to focus on other areas of his life away from darts.

I think this is ultimately about making sure his family is happy and he’s happy.

He’s still relatively young at 38 so even if he took a whole year away to focus on his family and personal life, he’d still come back under 40 and feel refreshed to relaunch his career.

I’m disappointed I won’t be seeing Adrian for a while but I can completely understand it. He deserves a lot of credit for having the strength to take a break from the sport he loves in order to come back stronger at a later date. It really is a gutsy move.

Career breaks

Darts can be an extremely long career. It’s not like some other sports where a playing career will pretty much come to an end in your late 30s – you can go on well into your 50s at the highest level if you can maintain your ability and consistency.

Therefore, it’s very possible that players can take a break and come back to win titles in part two of their careers.

Look at Peter Wright – he was at Lakeside in 1995 but we didn’t see him again until well into the 2000s once he’d re-invented himself into the Snakebite we know today.

I think Adrian could feasibly come back in the future and become an even better player than he has before. It’s a distinct possibility because there are plenty of pros in the game who have played their best darts after the age of 40.

It would make for an incredible movie-style story if Adrian is one of those and lifts another world title one day.

I think he’ll still do his exhibition work as a revenue stream and the fact there’s no pressure, but if he walks away from those as well, plenty more questions will be asked.

There will be concerns over if he retains his tour card, if he comes back next year or ever again.

Friendly giant great for the game

When you do exhibitions with Adrian, you realise just how friendly he is. He will sign anything for you and he’ll even do a song on the microphone to make sure everyone is having fun.

I’ve never argued with Adrian. Not once, even the times I had a good record against him and beat him at the worlds – or when he beat me in the World Cup final alongside Phil Taylor.

Sit down and have a pint with him and he’s absolutely hilarious! All he does is laugh! He’s a very friendly person but a ruthless competitor.

Adrian is a great dartist and when he’s at the top of his game, he’s one of the most electrifying players to watch on the planet.

Just look at some of the incredible moments in his career and the rivalries and matches he’s had with Phil Taylor, Raymond van Barneveld, James Wade and Michael van Gerwen.

People will keep waxing lyrical and reminisce about many of his matches for decades to come.

If you picked up a peak Adrian Lewis when he was producing his best performances and then dropped him into today’s darting world, he would be winning titles. His stats back then absolutely stand up today.

He should probably have won more than he did in his career to date and maybe that’s one of the things he wants to figure out. How can he win more majors and why it’s been 11 years since his last World Championship and why he’s ‘only’ managed one UK Open and one European Championship.

I don’t think he’s actually that far away from that standard. When Josh Rock burst onto the scene last year, I think there was a match between the pair of them when Adrian lost with a 113 average. So, he can still put in silly numbers.

However, in the past it would only be Phil Taylor who could beat him when playing that well so it shows how times have changed that some kids from the Development Tour can do it!

Adrian’s talent is still there but unfortunately everyone else is better so he does need to find more consistency with his A-game to get back to where he wants to.

Jackpot moments

My favourite Adrian Lewis moment was when he became the first player to hit double 11 to win a world title. Everyone remembers the joy on his face and how he sank to his knees.

To hit it against one of his closest pals in Gary Anderson made it even more special.

He also became the first player to hit a nine-darter in a World Championship final and everyone remembers where they were watching that opening set!

I thought ‘if it’s going to be like this for 13 sets, I’m not going to move’!

He couldn’t believe it when he hit that double 12 and the magnitude of what he achieved didn’t sink in until after he’d gone on to win. A lot of people wouldn’t have won the match because of the adrenaline levels of achieving such a feat so early on – but he had the presence of mind to settle back down and lift his first world title.

My other selection is the 2013 European Championship when he played Simon Whitlock in the final and was wearing a very British shirt.

Simon was trying to retain his title but I could tell from Adrian’s presence on that stage before a dart was thrown that there would only be one winner.

Adrian had been breathtaking all tournament, averaging over 100 in every game after the first round, including a semi-final victory over MVG.

He then managed 103.5 against Whitlock in the final and probably doesn’t get anywhere near enough credit for how dominant he was those four days.

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