And so, whilst his chief rivals were entertaining us all
week in, week out on Sky Sports, Wade was making
his way around the country playing in floor events.
At first, the plan seemed to be backfiring. Wade failed
to qualify for the first few European Tour events of
the season, and he wasn’t making an impact on the
Pro Tour either.
A brief foray into televised darts at the UK Open
in March saw The Machine reach the last sixteen,
before falling to eventual runner-up Terry Jenkins,
who in truth had impressed all week, but all in all
Wade was hardly lighting up the world of darts.
All of this was soon to change! In late May, Wade
boarded a plane to Dubai to take part in his first
fully televised event since December and he took to
the stage looking determined as he prepared to face
defending champion Michael van Gerwen.
Wade has always been better on TV than on the
floor, he is an excellent match player who finds a
way to win when others can’t, but to do it he needs
a hunger that few possess and that he can at time
lose.
Photo: PDC/Lawrence Lustig
Much has been made of James Wade’s omission
from this season’s Premier League. Some have
said it was the right thing to do, whilst others
maintain that he should have been included,
perhaps at the expense of Newton or Chisnall.
Of course this is all academic
now. The Premier League
was excellent, the ten men
selected gave us some of the
best darts you will ever see and
all of them brought something
to the table.
In the end Wade just failed to get over the line, losing
10-9 to an impressive MvG, but it was an impressive
display from the former Premier League champion.
He looked back to his best and more importantly he
looked hungry for more success.
I expect Wade to be
at the business end of
most if not all of the TV
tournaments this year
What is not academic, however, is the effect that his
omission will have on Wade himself.
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