[Sport] Scott Waites reveals his nonchalant attitude to the sport as he eyes Nathan Aspinall scalp

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Scott Waites reveals his nonchalant attitude to the sport as he eyes Nathan Aspinall scalp

 

Scott Waites boasts considerable pedigree as a two-time BDO world champion, but as he prepares to take on Nathan Aspinall in the second round of the World Darts Championship, he insists the secret to his success is not taking the sport too seriously.

It's a remarkable admission from a man that has scooped a multitude of major titles throughout his illustrious career, but it perhaps demonstrates why he's regularly been able to produce the goods under pressure.

'Scotty 2 Hotty' enjoyed an Alexandra Palace debut to remember on Saturday, edging out Matt Campbell in a five-set epic, that saw the maximum 25 legs played.

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The Canadian led from the outset, only for Waites to fire in a sublime 11-darter against the throw in a last-leg decider, as he prevailed with a 96 average, eight 180s and three ton-plus finishes.

Although the match was played in the absence of fans, Waites told the Darts Show podcast that he'd fulfilled his darting dreams by gracing the Alexandra Palace stage.

"I've been looking forward to this day I would say for a number of years," said the 43-year-old.

"I've always watched the different codes, so I've watched the PDC on the Alexandra Palace, whereas we played on the BDO stage at the Lakeside and I've always wanted to play here at the Ally Pally.

"It's always been an ambition of mine to get to Lakeside, but also the Ally Pally as well, so to get up there and play is fantastic."

Two-time BDO champion Scott Waites produced a stunning 11-darter to defeat Matt Campbell in the first round of the World Darts Championship.
Waites is one of 20 debutants featuring in this year's showpiece, although he insists he's not here to merely make up the numbers.

The Yorkshireman, who defeated Tony O'Shea and Jeff Smith in his respective BDO world finals, is bidding to become just the fifth player in darting history to win world titles across both codes.

"I don't come here just to make the numbers up, I come here because I've earned my right to play in this tournament and hopefully I am still good enough to beat everybody that's still in this tournament.

"On my day I think I could throw as good as anybody else, but I'm probably not quite as consistent as I should be, but I'm still working on that to get back up to that standard."

It's been a bizarre debut year on the Pro Tour circuit for Waites, although it's not his first foray into PDC waters, following his famous Grand Slam success back in 2010.

 

Last month's cross-code event marked a decade since Waites stunned the darting world by fighting back from 8-0 down to defeat James Wade 16-12 in a thrilling finale, having reached the final 12 months prior.

He is yet to replicate that type of quality on a consistent basis since claiming his PDC Tour Card in January, and he conceded it has been a difficult period.

"It's been a very frustrating year because I have tried to put everything into playing darts full-time this year and it's not happened. I'm preparing for my yearly calendar and everything has completely changed.

"Working on the practice routines that I do, I work up to every weekend and now you've got maybe three or four weeks between each event, which is really difficult then because I can't practice like I wanted to do for every weekend.

"2018 I had a go at Q School and I didn't do very well. The biggest learning curve for me was the Challenge Tour the year after, because I went to the majority of competitions but I didn't do as well as I wanted to do.