Gary Anderson is motivated for the World Darts Championship at the most effective of instances however much more so when he hears individuals doubting whether or not he may win one other world title.
Anderson is a two-time world champion, choosing up the trophy back-to-back in 2015 and 2016.
It makes him the final participant to have received the worlds twice in a row now 10 years in the past, with Luke Littler chasing that piece of historical past this time round.
Anderson has not made the ultimate since 2021 when he misplaced to Gerwyn Value however the ‘Flying Scotsman’ believes he has a 3rd World Darts Championship win in him.
Whereas unable to contribute as a lot of his time to darts, the 54-year-old has nonetheless been discovering some good kind, successful on the ProTour and European Tour in 2025, together with his sights now firmly set on Ally Pally.
There are a variety of motivating elements that maintain Anderson in darts however for chasing that third illustrious worlds title that may put him alongside Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen as three-time winners, he’s comfortable for individuals to doubt him because it solely spurs him on.
“Oh, it would. Especially, I haven’t upset so many people,” Anderson stated.
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Highlights of Stephen Bunting in opposition to Gary Anderson on the World Matchplay.
“I mean, a million pounds, fantastic. You never would have thought it was going to be that and Barry [Hearn] is good at what he does.
“He loves his darts, and he is pushed it, and he is pushed it, and he is pushed it. And it is now in all probability the most important sport on the planet so it’s good.
“But, yeah, it would be nice to win one more title.
“Often I am fairly comfortable. A few weeks again, I used to be fairly comfortable to go you realize what? I’ve executed my job on that.
“Then individuals began speaking, ‘oh, he is executed, he is this, he’ll by no means do it’ and that fires me again up, and I can not cease enjoying. I maintain carrying on.
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Watch why the 2018 last of the Grand Slam of Darts is taken into account to be one of the vital controversial matches ever as Gerwyn Value and Gary Anderson battled it out for the title.
“I think if everyone was nice and said ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’ I probably would just drift away and stop playing.
“However you at all times get anyone that claims that ‘he is previous it and that’ and I am like no I am not.
“I don’t put as much time into it but I’m still managing to play with the top players with the amount that I’ve played darts.
“I do know that I do effectively for the place my sport is, so I simply plug on now, do not I? Simply plug on.”
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Value wastes two extra match darts – taking the overall to 11 – just for Anderson to squander three extra set darts! Value comes again to seek out D5 and safe the Sid Waddell Trophy.
As somebody who has been across the sport for a very long time, Anderson has seen a fast change within the sport.
Not even he may have predicted he could be competed for a high £1m prize for the winner of the World Darts Championship.
“I know the talk is about changing it but when you drive up that hill and you see Ally Pally sitting up there in the hill, that’s what gets your juices flowing. That’s what it’s all about,” he added.
“The entire 12 months does not actually matter. It is all about December, the World Championships.
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Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson met within the last of the 2011 World Darts Championship wherein ‘Jackpot’ threw a nine-darter within the opening exchanges. Is that this the best set of darts ever?
“The whole year, if you’re playing bad, it doesn’t matter. You have still got that big one. If you can’t get yourself up for that, then you shouldn’t be playing the game.
“Even when you return 5 years, what we had been getting paid, we thought we’d by no means be going to Australia, Dubai, China, Japan, all over the place enjoying darts.
“We’ve seen the world. I have done it all and travelling’s getting a bit hard for me, but with playing darts, I’ve seen the world.
“So, by enjoying a sport that I really like enjoying, I’ve acquired to see components of the world that I in all probability would by no means have seen anyway so it has been nice.”
Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every match exclusively live from December 11 to January 3 on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel (Sky channel 407 from December 10). Stream darts and extra high sport with NOW.
