I am aware that there are problems when comparing darts with baseball, cricket, athletics, soccer or any other sport.

There are obviously physical differences between a guy that can hit a baseball out of the ground and a guy that can throw a dart with incredible precision (although the days of saying darts players are just fat guys who drink beer are well and truly gone).

Taylor: one of the best

However, when it comes to the sports I am interested in then my five greatest world sportsmen of all time are as follows (in no particular order):

Don Bradman (cricket)
Babe Ruth (baseball)
Pele (soccer)
Dan Marino (American Football)
Phil Taylor (darts)

I have no doubt Taylor deserves to be up there with that lot. He has established darts as a major world sport and not only has he inspired great performances from his fellow professionals, but at the UK Open he got 100 averages out of a lorry driver and a cone donkey. You don't see that from Tiger Woods or Lionel Messi!

That is one of the great things about the democracy of darts; you don't see somebody sweeping the streets of Atlanta one day and taking on Tiger Woods the next!

Better than ever

I wrote an article 10 years ago before Taylor played Barney in the £100,000 challenge match at Wembley.

A couple of weeks earlier he had beaten Peter Evison 9-0 in 20 minutes, even though he was starting on doubles. He averaged 102 (which is equivalent to 110 on a straight start) and I commented in my article that: "Taylor, 38, is at the peak of his career."

That shows how much I know!

In the last two months he has been better than ever before. He broke the world record for an average with 116.2 against John Part in Aberdeen and in the UK Open he nearly broke that record twice.

He averaged 115.5 against the "cone donkey" Ken Mather and he went even better with 115.6 against Mark Lawrence in the quarter-final. His average for the whole tournament was 107 and that shows he's reached a new peak.

But he won't stop there. Those world records aren't enough for him. After the final he said his opponent, Colin Osborne, is younger and fitter so he's planning to improve on that ahead of the Las Vegas Classic.

As I write, he's probably on a treadmill in Stoke-On-Trent, eating carrots and celery. We can expect to see a leaner, meaner Taylor in Las Vegas.

Open stars

Colin Osborne was a worthy finalist in the UK Open. As somebody who has reached world class levels in yo-yo and ping pong, he has amazing hand-eye co-ordination - despite suffering from frequent migraines as he did during the UK Open.

He has been a work-in-progress for the last two-and-half years, but he's now up there with the top 10 in the world. To go 3-0 up on Taylor in the final was an amazing achievement because he really had The Power worried.

He has enough experience to not get over-hyped by big occasions and he is getting better every time I see him. It couldn't happen to a nicer lad.

It was good to see Ronnie Baxter back to his best and Jamie Caven also did well. Paul Nicholson looked good in beating Gary Anderson in the first round but I think he got a bit too cocky after that victory.

I enjoyed watching my mate Andy Smith, who got to the fifth round with a belly full of salad. The restaurant got his order wrong and served him three plates of salad. In the end he ran out of time and had to go and play his match - leaving his 16oz steak on the grill!

My big tip was Barney but he seems to be a bit disillusioned with darts. He seemed to go off the boil rather quickly.

Looking forward...

In the UK Open it was possible for lorry drivers and suit makers to get momentum going, especially with the crowds so close to the boards. Lesser-known players can put a streak together and get through to the later rounds.

However, I expect the more familiar faces to come to the fore in the forthcoming tournaments. The "Twenty20" part of the season is over and now we move onto the Test matches.

The format of the tournaments in Las Vegas, Blackpool and Ireland is a lot longer with matches played over sets rather than quick bursts of legs.

We can expect to see the usual candidates in the latter stages. At least that will make commentating much easier!

I think the Taylor-Wade axis will continue to dominate - but look out for Colin Osborne and Mark Walsh as well the other Premier League stars.

Ultimately though, Taylor has a new house to furnish with swimming pools, snooker tables - and probably even an observatory on the roof.

Taylor wants to turn his house into a palace - and that means we can expect another five months of amazing darts from him!

Do you agree with Sid? Is Phil Taylor one of the greatest sportsmen ever? Let us know using the feedback form below.

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