'It's a difficult balance'
Wednesday 17 December 2014 13:47, UK
Adrian Lewis is looking forward to the party atmosphere of the World Darts Championship but hopes the festivities don’t spiral out of control on the oche.
The Stoke thrower is on familiar turf at Ally Pally, having won this competition in 2011 and 2012, and is excited to renew acquaintances with a partisan London crowd, live on Sky Sports Darts at 7pm on Thursday.
But having had problems on the oche in the past – most notably with Peter Manley and more recently Peter Wright – Lewis acknowledges there is a fine line between entertaining the rowdy fans and overstepping the mark.
“It’s a difficult balance,” he told Sky Sports. “People pay good money to watch the darts and they want to see good entertainment and so on.
You can entertain your fans and the crowd with good darts – hit a few doubles, that will entertain them. But when you’re on a double and you turn around to the crowd to give it large, that’s a bit silly.
“But you can take it a bit too far – Peter Wright has done it a few times to different players this year. But he’s learned his lesson and hasn’t done it recently.
“It’s disrespectful, I wouldn’t do it to anyone so I wouldn’t expect anyone to do it to me. You can entertain your fans and the crowd with good darts – hit a few doubles, that will entertain them. But when you’re on a double and you turn around to the crowd to give it large, that’s a bit silly.
“It’s Christmas, and it’s a good party atmosphere. Everybody enjoys themselves, it’s great. The atmosphere gives you a boost. You think ‘I’ve put the work in, now it’s time to go up there, enjoy it and do my job’.
“I particularly enjoy playing at Ally Pally because it’s the biggest one and you wait all year for it to come around. You make sure you’re right, and you make sure your form comes good for this one.”
Tough
Lewis will meet David Pallett in the first round and believes avoiding the easier draws will be to his advantage in the later stages of the tournament.
He said: “I’ve played him three or four times and he hasn’t beaten me yet. But he’s a confident young lad, and a great player. I’ll have to be ready for him.
“He’s not unknown, he’s hit a nine-darter at one of the events this year so I know all about him. I’ve never played him in a major tournament – the atmosphere is a lot different to a floor tournament – so it’ll be a completely different game.
“There’s a few easier draws out there in the first round but it’s good to have a tough first match because you settle quickly into the tournament. You don’t want to beat somebody 9-0 and breeze through, because the next thing you know someone will come back at you and you’ve got nothing to respond with.”
Lewis admits 2014 hasn’t been a stellar year and is focusing on beginning a brighter 2015 with his third World Championship.
“I’ve not had a fantastic year,” he admitted. “I won the UK Championships but other than that I’ve only been in a couple of quarter-finals. In the last one, the Players Championship, I lost in the final.
“I’ve had a few ups-and-downs and I haven’t been consistent enough this year. That’s something I’ll be working on, regarding next year.
“In 2015 I’ll be back, bigger and stronger, with a world title as well.”
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