Smith: "I've had plenty of opportunities but I'll never stop believing and I'll never stop going"
Friday 15 November 2019 14:44, UK
Michael Smith is not about to stop working hard, it's taken him to the brink of a first major televised title, but crucially not quite to the point where he has lifted one of the big trophies world darts now has to offer.
Bully Boy was drawn into the 'Group of Death' - every group-based tournament has one - but rather than shirk the challenge, it has inspired the man from St Helens to produce some of his very best stuff.
Victories over three-time BDO world champion Glen Durrant and good friend and UK Open champion Nathan Aspinall mean Smith is through to the next round with a game to spare at the Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton.
"I've said it countless times, in these group stages if you get beaten and go through, it doesn't feel like you've gone through because you've lost, " he tells The Darts Show podcast.
"Any other tournament if you lose, you're out."
Sunday afternoon's breathtaking display against Aspinall saw him average 114, the third-best in the tournament's history and only a missed double four away from breaking Phil Taylor's record - all this just 24 hours after falling just one dart short of his first televised nine-dart finish.
He takes on Duzza again on Friday night at the Aldersley Leisure Village having come through his second round match against Daryl Gurney. Not that this relentlessly hard-worker will be letting his guard down.
"I don't need to practice, I do it because I enjoy it, " he adds.
"I love to practice and I love to see how far I can push myself and what my limits actually are.
The 29-year-old has been on quite the journey. A former world youth champion, Bully Boy has spent the last couple of years putting himself in a position to win his first premier title, the name the PDC give to their top-end events.
From a runner-up finish at the Premier League in May 2018, his first major final, Smith continues to fall agonisingly short of a breakthrough at the very top level. He lost to Michael van Gerwen on that night at The O2, was beaten in the World Series Finals by James Wade and a defeat against MVG at Alexandra Palace in the World Championship followed on New Year's Day.
A World Matchplay final defeat in July came next, at the hands of Rob Cross while semi-finals at the UK Open, the Champions League and the European Championship all point to a man even more consistent than Van Gerwen in the TV tournaments this year.
It should also be noted that he knows how to win, 10 ranking event titles are testament to that but the summit remains three titles on the increasingly high-profile European Tour and World Series in Shanghai, but for a man of Smith's talent, more should have followed.
"I've had plenty of opportunities but I'll never stop believing and I'll never stop going. I'm only 29 so I'm still a baby in this game," says Smith, who was the PDC world youth champion has recently as 2013.
"I just know that the minute I quit is the minute that I stop believing it and I'm not quitting. I keep believing in myself 100 per cent. If I don't believe in myself then who else will believe in me?
"I can't keep fooling people and saying, 'one day I might do it'. I've got to keep improving. The way that the standard is going at the minute, with people coming across and people who are already here doing it higher and higher.
"If you don't improve every year then you've got serious problems and you've seen it with some of the players that are slipping out now and are having to go to Q School. If you don't improve every year you've got to do it and I'm probably one of the biggest practisers out there."
It's been put to Smith that Andy Murray lost in his first four major finals before finally making the breakthrough in the US Open at the fifth time of asking. Bully Boy's next major final will be his fifth and he's hoping it comes with a similar outcome to Murray, maybe even on Sunday night.
Coverage of the Grand Slam of Darts continues on Sky Sports Action and Main Event from 7pm on Friday and you can follow with us on www.skysports.com/darts and by following us @SkySportsDarts
