Peter Wright's wife designed his Christmas outfits 'on her deathbed' as Snakebite prepares for his world title defence

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Tue December 13, 2022 · 2y ago

Peter Wright will head to the Cazoo World Championship feeling as festive as ever after his wife managed to design his Christmas-themed outfits from 'her deathbed'.

Snakebite is bidding to become just the fourth different player in history to successfully defend the title after Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson, but the last month of an inconsistent season was hit by an illness to Jo, who has been pivotal in his rise and duration at the top of the sport.

During November's Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton, she was rushed to A&E with a collapsed lung and other complications that doctors linked to a previous gallbladder removal operation.

Wright understandably opted to miss the Players Championship Finals due to his wife's ongoing problems but thankfully she's making a swift recovery and planning more colourful outfits and whacky hairstyles for him to entertain darts fans with at Alexandra Palace.

The 52-year-old, who was wearing a white beard and an elf hat during a zoom interview, said: "Jo is better, she got some good news from the surgeon that she’s through the worst of it and on the mend. That’s a big relief. I can get on with the darts now.

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“It’s been horrible for all of us, not knowing what’s going to happen. But we’re through the worst of it. She’s on the mend and that’s the most important thing.

“I’ve been throwing on the board during the past month but I haven’t really been throwing darts, I’ve just been slinging them at the board. But tonight, and over the next few days, I’ll get myself ready. It [his game] is getting better. With the relief, I feel really good now."

When discussion turned to what Christmas-themed outfits he'd be wearing on the oche, Jo interjected to joke: "They'll probably be crap this year because I designed them from my death bed!"

Wright added: "I’ve been growing the beard but I don’t know, I might get bored and shave it off. We’ve got a couple of outfits. Jo’s designed them, not me, I’ve had nothing to with it. It should be fun.”

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Wright begins the defence of the Sid Waddell Trophy on Thursday night against either Micky Mansell or Ben Rob and is confident he can make another lengthy run despite not being at his best this season.

Snakebite has 'only' picked up a couple of titles since his January heroics while he's suffered early exits five majors – including a shock group stage exit at the Grand Slam of Darts when his mind was obviously preoccupied with the health of Jo.

Even when Wright did enjoy a deep run to the World Grand Prix semi-finals, it ended with a humiliating 4-0 defeat to Michael van Gerwen, while other disappointments include finishing fifth in the Premier League and the manner of his World Matchplay quarter-final defeat to Dimitri Van den Bergh.

However, part of the mid-season blip was partly down to his own health problems with gallstones and he ended the year with a seasonal average of 97.42 - which is still comfortably inside the top 10.

Despite being world number two, he heads into the tournament as fifth favourite but the underdog tag doesn't bother him.

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He said: "I’ll do well. I’m not worried about the draw, I’ve just got to play the person in front of me. I know what to do to win it, then I’ll be picking up Sid [the Sid Waddell Trophy] at the beginning of next year.

"Whoever is going to beat me has got to play well. It’s not just me who’ll be saying that, it’s Michael [Van Gerwen], Gezzy [Price], Michael Smith, Luke Humphries, Nathan Aspinall, all those guys will be feeling confident. If you don’t believe in your own ability, you shouldn’t be playing.

"I'd rather the bookies and pundits talk everyone else up and leave me in the background. Then all of a sudden I'll be there! I like being the outsider rather than the favourite and consider myself the underdog in all my matches, because that works for me."

"It's been an up and down year. I was nowhere near my best earlier in the season because of my gallbladder problems and then missed World Series events due to my operation.

"But when I came back I won a European Tour event and reached another final but then it went downhill again due to other stuff in the background!"

On hot favourite van Gerwen, his rival added: “I’d be favourite if I’d won four majors as well.

“The bookies have got it right, he’s coming into the tournament playing some good darts. So he’s going to be dangerous but you’ve got to deliver it on the Ally Pally stage and he hasn’t done it on that stage for a long time.”

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One of the major threats in his quarter of the draw is Josh Rock and has no doubts he'll continue to go from strength to strength.

Wright said: "He's hit the road running and is a very good player. The advantage he's got is that he's young, doesn't fear anyone and wants to beat the best players in the world. It's the sort of attitude you need and he's good for darts.

"I was that good when I was 21 to be honest but I gave it up twice! Age doesn't matter really - as long as you can stand up there and throw darts."