When Adrian Lewis arrived on the darts scene at the age of 19, he was widely known to be the protégé of 16-time World Champion Phil Taylor.
While Michael Smith recently said he didn’t want to receive any help from the 16-time World Champion. Phil Taylor was Adrian Lewis’ mentor for years.
The pair are both from Stoke-On-Trent and frequently practiced together in their home city. The duo are also four-time winners of the World Cup of Darts.
When Adrian Lewis asserted himself into the top 16 of the PDC rankings, Jackpot decided to stop training with Phil Taylor and now he has revealed why.
Why Adrian Lewis stopped training with Phil Taylor
Lewis is set to make his comeback to the sport next year at the MODUS Super Series and he appeared on Wayne Mardle’s Club 501 podcast to talk about his return and career.
Talking about his training schedule with Taylor, Lewis said he made the difficult decision to stop training with 16-time World Matchplay champion when the pair began to meet in tournaments more frequently.
The two-time World Champion said: “It was about until I’d broken into the top 16. I was playing him more times then, because he was number one and I was number 16 and I kept bumping into him.
“I thought I was too pally with him and I needed to step away, so I had to do it.”
Lewis and Taylor were a dynamite pairing
As well as winning accolades together, history was often made when Lewis and Taylor went head-to-head.
The pair famously met in the semi-final of the Grand Slam of Darts 2013 in Wolverhampton, which broke PDC records. Taylor won the epic encounter 16-9 and the tie saw the pair hit a record 32 180s.
Both players held a three-dart average of over 109, which was the highest combined average ever recorded.