Phil Taylor recently underwent hip replacement surgery and while preparing to fully retire from darts later this year, he’s recently reflected on the ‘heartbreak’ he felt towards the end of his career when health issues were impacting his performances.
Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor will go down as the greatest darts player of all time.
FACT.
During a glittering career, Taylor dominated the sport like no other and brought the game to the masses.
He won 79 PDC major titles and hogged the Triple Crown events during his reign with 16 World Matchplay titles and 16 World Championship titles.
He’s one of the winningest sports players of all time and to dominate multiple eras like he did was a testament to his dedication and determination to darts.
Unfortunately, that dedication was difficult to replicate in later life when injuries and health issues started to plague him…
Earlier this week, Taylor had to withdraw from the World Seniors Matchplay that took place in York over this weekend as a result of medical advice he’d received in relation to his hip replacement surgery.
See more – Phil Taylor withdraws from WSDT Matchplay on ‘medical advice’
He’s got one more tournament scheduled to play later this year with the World Seniors Darts Tour before officially retiring for good and said he is doing everything he can to make sure he plays in it.
Looking back though, he talks about how difficult it was to retire from the professional game when he could no longer perform at his expected standards due to health issues.
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Phil Taylor ‘Heartbreak’ Playing Through Injury Before Retiring
Phil Taylor recently underwent hip replacement surgery and his recovery from this is the reason he had to pull out of the WSDT Matchplay but he says his hip issues made playing towards the end of his career a “horrible” experience.
Speaking to Online Darts, Taylor was asked about the difficulty he experienced when he was unable to play to his expected standard before retiring.
Taylor said:
“It’s horrible, it’s horrible. You feel like you’re trying to lift the roof off the house.
“It’s heartbreaking to be honest with you.
“That’s the worst part when you’ve got people saying ‘come on Phil, you’re better than this’, I know I’m better than this but you can’t turn right, it’s getting your foot in the right position and turning your body like I used to do.
Despite his health issues and the pain he was experiencing, Phil Taylor still managed to finish his career in impressive fashion.
He won the World Matchplay and made it to the final of the 2018 World Championship losing 7-2 to Rob Cross. All of this while in his late 50’s.
An interesting snippet from this conversation was that even when he was on holiday he would still be on the practice boards preparing for tournaments.
That was the level of dedication he put into being the greatest darts player of all time so his retirement is well earned and deserved!
Watch his interview in full here:
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