Michael Smith is one of the most naturally talented players in darts.
Smith has such a natural action and when he’s on his game, he flows like nobody else.
The Englishman has been to the very top of the game before, and he hopes to capture another major honour on Premier League Finals Night on Thursday.
Speaking to the PDC ahead of the showdown night at the O2 Arena, Smith has been discussing his past 18 months in the game, and he says that he’s found things very difficult after winning his World Championship.
Indeed, Smith now admits that he made a mistake after becoming World Champion, claiming that he took too much time off and did whatever he wanted rather than focusing fully on his game.
Michael Smith’s mistake after winning the World Championships
Smith spoke about his recent form and why he has struggled.
“The last 18 months have been difficult after the worlds. That’s partly down to me taking time off when I wanted and doing whatever I wanted. Knowing that because I’d got that it was like ‘it’s done, it’s finished.’ But it wasn’t finished. If it was finished then I should’ve retired then and retired as the best player in the world,” Smith said.
Michael Smith has to keep working hard
This is the pitfall of becoming a World Champion in any sport.
Once you reach the top of the mountain, you feel as though it’s mission accomplished and you can take your foot off the gas.
It’s a phenomena that has been repeated so many times in so many sports, and it’s perhaps best epitomised by the former Boxing champion Marvin Hagler’s famous quote: “It’s tough to get out of bed to do roadwork at 5am when you’ve been sleeping in silk pyjamas.”
Once you’re at the very top, you feel like you’ve achieved everything and you no longer want to do as much of the hard graft, but, if you’re going to be a consistent champion, you have to be on that practice board every single day.
Smith knows that now, and it looks as though he’s heading in the right direction once again, and a Premier League win on Thursday could beckon.