Sporting Life
Michael Smith
Michael Smith

World Matchplay: Michael Smith insists there should be no asterisk if a player wins their first major without a crowd

By Chris Hammer
18:54 · SUN July 19, 2020

Michael Smith reveals what it's like being considered as one of the 'best players not to win a major' and whether ending his wait at the World Matchplay would be attached with an 'asterisk'.

Winning any major darts tournament – let alone one as prestigious as the World Matchplay – not only obviously requires tremendous ability, but also an incredible amount of mental strength to cope with the pressures of a raucous crowd and the glare of the TV cameras.

Like in any sport, everyone is striving to get themselves off the unofficial ‘best players never to have won a major’ rankings even if a lofty position is a backhanded compliment.

Fortunately for darts players, there are a lot more than the four majors a year that you’d get in tennis and golf, for example, but that’s not to say picking up any TV title is easy, especially when Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen have hogged around 150 between them across two long overlapping eras.

The clear rising standards in the game – from the talented youngsters to the ‘veterans’ reaching new undiscovered levels of their own – and the mercenary hunger sweeping throughout the ranks to reap rewards in a sport that’s lucrative than ever is also making the major prizes tougher to win.

Of the 11 individual TV crowns up for grabs, Michael Smith has appeared in the final of five of them – the World Championship (2018), World Matchplay (2019), Premier League (2018), Masters (2020) and the World Series of Darts Finals (2018) – and has also reached the semi-finals of four others including the UK Open, Grand Slam of Darts, European Championship and Champions League of Darts, so he’s clearly very near the top of the aforementioned list. If not ‘the’ top.

Widely regarded as one of the most naturally gifted stars in the sport today, it’s surely only a matter of time before he gets his first and opens the floodgates for more, and at the age of 29, there’s no real time pressure on his shoulders either.

Even so, he’s understandably desperate to get the job done in a pressure cooker of a final sooner than later and then be able to turn focus to adding to that tally.

His track record in TV ‘major’ events is evidently superb and, unlike in the case of some other top pros, has no problems regularly showcasing his brilliance in front of 1000s in an arena and millions watching at home. Until, perhaps, the final step when he’s either not played to his best or agonisingly missed match darts like in the World Series of Darts Finals and this year’s Masters against Peter Wright.

At this week’s behind-closed-doors World Matchplay in Milton Keynes, there will of course be no fan factor of distracting chants and whistles at key moments anyway.

Instead, the controlled piped-in crowd noise could well act as a real leveller for the entire 32-player field, especially those who have previously struggled to reproduce their explosive floor form when they’re surrounded by the wild razzmatazz of a huge major.

But isn’t coping in a pressure cooker environment a fundamental part of becoming a major winner? Would triumphing at a relatively sterile Marshall Arena compared to the iconic Winter Gardens, where many players have crumbled as much as others have been inspired, be as ‘valid’ as the other champions in the Roll of Honour?

Would a dreaded ‘asterisk’ be forever attached to the name of whoever lifts this year’s trophy, especially if a first-time major winner?

Smith, who has won the televised Shanghai Masters on the World Series Tour in 2018 as well as nine other senior PDC titles, said: “It’ll still be a ranked TV major on your CV. It is a shame the fans aren’t there because they’ve been missing the sport as much as we are.

“But if I win the World Matchplay, it’s a major. Trust me! It’s not as if it’s just a dark room with a dart board. It’ll sound the same with the crowd noise.

“I remember when I won my first ProTour event at the age of 19 I was told I only won it because Phil Taylor and Barney weren’t there. Then my second title I was told I’d only done it because Barney wasn’t there…even though Phil was!

“Then when I reached my first European Tour final on a stage I was told I only did it because Michael van Gerwen wasn’t there so my seeding went up!

“A few weeks later I beat MVG in a final and thought ‘what are you all gonna say now?!’ But I am prepared for people telling me I only won the World Matchplay – if I do – because there’s no crowd.

“The thing is, the crowd have never put me off. It’s nothing to do with them why I lost. When you aim at a double with thousands of pounds on the line, it’s not the fans that get in your head.”

On being talked of as one of the best players to win a major, Smith said: “It’s between me and Terry Jenkins! It’s not annoying but if we had this conversation again in 20 years it might be!

“The only reason I’ve given up caring about people saying this about me on social media is because I know one day I will get one. Ask Terry Jenkins and he’ll probably be annoyed about it because he can’t rectify it.

“I’ve got at least 15 or 20 years left to put it right, and if I can improve every year then I know it will happen for me. Peter Wright only won his first TV title three years ago and now he’s world champion at 50.

“Gary Anderson has been a professional since he was 25 and he was in his 40s when he won the Players Championship Finals (in 2014). Think of all those years of people saying he won’t win a major because he can’t finish.

“I’ve only been a professional for around eight years so life’s too short to worry about that.”

Whereas Smith, who hit this first televised nine-darter in the Premier League earlier this year, boasts a superb major record without winning them, his close pal Ian White often seems to wilt on the biggest stages despite being continually hailed as one of the most dangerous players on the circuit.

Diamond, who is now 49, has won 13 PDC titles away from the TV cameras in his career, including six since the start of 2018 while three of those have come in the loud stage environment of the European Tour. He’s even defeated Michael van Gerwen in a last-leg decider of the Dutch Darts Masters last year even though 99.99% of the partisan crowd were so vocally against him.

Smith, said: “Four or five years ago, I got into the top eight in the world without making a TV final and only reaching one semi-final. Most of my money – like Ian White’s is now – was made from the floor events.

“But now there’s a stat that there’s only three players in the last 16 months who have a higher combined average on TV than they do on the floor and that’s me, Michael van Gerwen and Nathan Aspinall. I can’t even remember when I last got to the final on the floor, where I’m playing rubbish.

“And I’m sure it’s the same for Whitey. Once it clicks for him on TV, it will be fine. I feel bad for him every year it goes on.

“The one that got him most was at the 2019 World Championship where he lost to Devon Petersen from a winning position. He was averaging around 110 then it just vanished.

“The social media doesn’t help because he lives on there and takes notice of what people say and the abuse. He does laugh it off but I think inside it hurts him a bit.”

On the abuse, Smith was also subject to social media trolls during the PDC Home Tour and said: “It bothers me until I get in the house. Junior will come up to me and say ‘how did you lose that!’ and I’ll just tell him to shut up and give me a hug. I’m over it then. I also don’t really go on Twitter for about a week if I’ve lost so I don’t see all the rubbish.

“Ian laughs and jokes about it so it’s hard to say how much it really affects him. He’s not the same person away from TV. I can’t take him seriously. I call him Peter Pan because he’s never grown up! I just wish he was himself on TV and have a laugh.”

The pair are in the opposite halves of the World Matchplay draw, so it’d be quite a fitting to say the least in the circumstances if they were to meet in the final.

Click here for the full 2020 World Matchplay draw and schedule

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