Wade won the UK Open last weekend
James Wade’s third UK Open title in a different third decade saw the Machine catapult back to the top four in the world on the PDC Merit Order.
Few players in the game have ever achieved such consistency with the 37-year-old, who has remained at the sport’s main table for more than 15 years.
His latest major title is a reminder of his abilities, and his stormy career is far from over. In fact, the Aldershot man feels that his experience serves him well, and that he is in a better position than he was at the first opportunity in the sport.
“In 2007 when I won the Matchplay, I think I was so caught up in the moment that I didn’t realize what I had done, and I’ve gone through those years now and I understand what you are achieving, what you are doing and why you are doing it. Maybe I just saved a little more this time I think, “he thought, talking to him. Podcast Show Darts.
“Maybe I took it a little.
“It happened to me very quickly. I think it was two or three years and I won the first prime. It was too fast I think.
It happened to me very quickly. I think it was two or three years and I won the first prime. It was too fast I think.
Wade reveals that success came too early in his career
“This is my third restart,” he continued. “I could honestly look back between four and five years between – I believe [20]11 and ’17, I’m not straight forward about the problems I had. I was making a change of medication, and I tried a lot of different treatments and that completely ruined my brain. Personal life, I was a young man. That was different. I enjoyed life.
“I was growing up, with the problems I had, and also the big, big thing, it might not have been as big as my mental health, but the other big thing was throwing me. man me – i have so many friends in darts – nobody told me my arm was six inches higher than it was [supposed to be]. And it was like that for years. No one told me.
“As soon as I noticed that – I corrected that a long time ago, maybe two years ago, and it’s slowly turning the corner. I’m getting a little more consistent. I’m slowly getting some scoring power back.
“I think that’s why I had a bad five years. I really … It was just so inconsistent.”
The Open Glory of the UK
Wade enjoyed a memorable run at Milton Keynes last weekend, defeating Ryan Joyce, Rob Cross, Gabriel Clemens, Simon Whitlock, Gerwyn Price and Luke Humphries to become just the second player to have earn PDC titles over three different decades.
It is an achievement with which he can be proud, as he looks more of a silverware.
“It’s beautiful to win it three times,” he laughed. “I think the last one was just as precious as the first one. I am very happy. Especially the way I played too. The draws I was unlucky to get too, the extra time as well. it was really good. “
Wade is back winning big prizes
And he was pleased with the way he gathered pressure on his opponents, taking big legs at the crucial moments.
“That’s how you play your darts. You get into someone smart, and most people don’t like them,” he explained.
“If you get into even some of the tallest ones, they will fall. I don’t see why they do it, but more than enough of them will do it.
“The game isn’t as hard as people say it is. When I play like I can up there, it can be comfortable and enjoyable. If my head isn’t turned on and i’m not in the right place, i can miss silly games, i can play bloody horror.
“It’s just starting to come. I feel like I’m playing better. The weekend I played well. But the previous weekend I played well too. I just feel like the better pieces are more consistent. “
Leaving the Premier League
Wade’s main title came a little too late for him to secure a place in the 2021 Premier League. But he feels he still deserved one.
“I may have been bullied, not bothered. It has happened to me more than enough to mention it,” he lamented.
“If it was always chosen on the dates they choose, I believe I deserved it. I believe I deserved that last place, it probably wouldn’t. even the last place, maybe a couple up the list.Because I am always competitive when I am there.
“I’m usually around there on the last night. I was never ashamed of it. But they kept it open for another competition, won by Jonny Clayton. If you do it on what people interior done, they all deserve their places.
“But if they had made it on the dates they ever made it, the closing date, I think I should be in. But every player in the That competition has won a major title, and you can’t argue with that.
“I have said a hero’s face and he said it won’t bother me. But it hurts.”
He hopes to support the success of the UK Open
Open landscape
Wade finds himself back in the top four in the world. But 2021 presents a somewhat different landscape in the PDC era, with no single force gaining the upper hand over the night.
“There’s no single key player anymore, which is pretty weird. Darts never had that, I don’t think. I haven’t had that since I was involved anyway,” he explained.
“It’s good for other players, because random players can come and run, and they can win a title.
“It’s bad because the rankings change so much, because you don’t have one main group. It used to be, as a rule, for a long time, Phil, me, you, and there were another couple who could That’s the way to do the business if it was the right time for them. But other than that, that’s why the rankings have always been the same. “
Watch a live broadcast of the 2021 Premier League on it Sky Sports – the action takes place on Monday 5 April with five consecutive nights of action from the Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes.