Sky Sports Darts” Wayne Mardle fears Peter Wright is nearing the end of his career after his incredible results brought his Grand Slam of Darts campaign to a premature end.
The two-time world champions lost 5-1 to John Cross on Monday night, leaving them winless in their three group matches and eliminated from the tournament in Wolverhampton.
Mardle revealed that Wright shared a scathing assessment of the current state of his game, but with less than five weeks until the start of the World Darts Championship, it’s worrying for the Sky Sports pundit. It was a confession that should have been made.
“I’m concerned about Peter Wright’s form,” Mardle said. “This has been a period of time that has been going on for a while.
“I believe that a positive result can mask any problems that may be there. And I think last year’s European Championships did that. It came out of nowhere, it really did. This year’s European Winning on tour came out of the blue.”
“He can still do it. But if he goes down, in my words, he’s off. He doesn’t have any B game.
“He was joking with us upstairs and saying he was a shitty person, but I felt like he meant it. I felt a little sorry for him.”
Mardle, who retired from competitive darts in 2012, stopped short of evaluating Wright’s career, but suggested a final hurray at the World Championships could be a thrilling final chapter for Snakebite.
“We know how good he can be,” Mardle added. “But to be honest, he’s closer to the end of his career than he was to the beginning.
“He was world champion two years ago and he’s already 54 years old – how many more years could he have been good anyway?
“If he finds another purple patch, another Peter Wright patch, he’ll be fine.” [at the World Championships]but this has been going on long enough that he needs to find it now. ”
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