I’m sitting here now, writing these lines, and I feel sad. It’s a bit empty. Phil Taylor, who was the epitome of world darts, has made an ignominious comeback. He crashed and burned.
But first things first.
The World Veteran Championship was not designed as a sporting tournament, but as a nostalgic one. That is why its backbone was formed by the legends of the past, who were supported 20-30 years ago. Bob Anderson, John Law, Keith Deller – great company! But the whole story, more than sure, was created under Phil Taylor – his name is still capable of generating revenue and pluses in karma.
As a matter of fact, he was the first guest on the WChM. His picture graced the tournament posters, programs and social networks. Bookmakers were betting on Phil as the all-powerful favorite, and the odds on his championship were steadily rolling toward 1.0. In fact, as an indisputable fact that could not be argued against.
Taylor himself said he had been preparing for the WChM for several weeks. Considering that the last time he played on a big stage was four years ago-the 2018 World Cup finals-his training time wasn’t all that impressive. One could only hope that in the Circus Tavern, Phil would turn on all his power and sweep away anyone who got in his way.
But reality turned out to be harsher. Phil Taylor was trivialized and unprepared for his return to the darts circuit. Even though he received a warm welcome from a loving public.
His set was staggering around 75-85 points, no match for the almighty champion. “Sila was losing sectors, rarely hitting threes, and trying to close for long periods of time. It was obvious from him that the man didn’t want to play his best. And it affected the result.
This was not the Phil who was making penny pens in the 80s and knocking out four maxes in the evenings – “otherwise he couldn’t sleep.” This was not the Taylor who was athletically angry and hungry for wins. On stage was an ordinary British pensioner, who had earned a comfortable old age 20 years earlier. And he had no motivation to do anything about it.
In the first match, the old yeast was enough. Phil took on Peter Manley, who played even worse, 3-1 in sets. But he blew the quarterfinals against Kevin Painter.
You couldn’t tell that from the set — 86.10 looked more or less tolerable. But from the game, it looked like Kevin was capable of winning not just dryly, but without a single leg given up. The level difference flew off into space, and that comparison was not in Taylor’s favor. It was the same indifference to the game and lack of gleam in his eyes-that the super-champion seemed to be madly sick of darts.
Taylor took his three legs, though. He even closed 119 in one of them. And he played with the crowd a little bit. It turned out pretty good, by the way.
But it didn’t give him any more energy or desire. Painter took on the champion in three sets and left him without a title. And at the same time he took revenge for all his previous World Cup defeats – there had been six of them during his career!
The story of the legend’s comeback crumbled before my eyes. It is clear that no one was going to give him the title in advance, otherwise we would have had no tournament but a theater with a foreknown ending. But Taylor, as it seemed, did not want to touch it. So he dropped out in the quarterfinals.
I’m more than sure Taylor will get an invite to WCHM again next year. But whether he’ll accept it is the question. I can’t help feeling he’s had enough of darts for the rest of his life and won’t go back to them, even if he’s obstructed.
And that makes it even sadder.
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