Last year's World Championship runner-up Gary Anderson gets a grilling from Sid Waddell.
Sid had some fascinating questions for last year's runner-up Gary Anderson
Nobody knows darts better than
Sky Sports commentator Sid Waddell.
After almost 40 years of watching the sport, surely nobody else has seen more arrows flung and nobody else has analysed the players so closely.
So when
skysports.com tracked down the biggest names in the game for a chat ahead of the 2012 World Championship, we decided to get Sid to ask the questions for us!
Here's what happened when Sid posed the questions to world number three Gary Anderson, who was runner-up in last year's World Championship...
SID WADDELL: Who do you think will be in the frame at the World Championship this year?
GARY ANDERSON: Hopefully myself and whoever is in the opposite half of the draw!
SID: Phil Taylor has listed you as one of his three main rivals...
GARY: Well that's a good thing and a bad thing. It's nice to hear that Phil is thinking like that, but you know he's not going to be taking it easy and he'll be up for his games against you. I just try and keep myself to myself and get on with the games. I try not listen to what people say. I keep away from that.
SID: Who would be your three most feared opponents?
GARY: Well Phil would be one of them. Then probably Adrian. And myself! I'm sometimes my own worst enemy!
SID: What's up with Raymond van Barneveld at the moment? Has he lost his taste for competition?
GARY: I don't know. Everybody has dips in form, even Phil at the start of the year had a dip in his form for three or four months. I think it's one of those things that happens. You can spend hours and days on the practice board and play brilliant, then you go up on the stage and have a bad game. You've got to take the good with the bad. You can't play well all the time. Next year he might come back and have a great year.
SID: I've been looking at tapes of your matches. I've noticed you stand back and shake your head when you miss a double and sometimes that puts you off your next throw. Do you realise that's happening?
GARY: I shake my head when I miss a double because on the practice board I never miss them. Sometimes the darts don't go where they're supposed to and that's why I might shake my head. If they don't go right you struggle up there. If I throw away a leg and it's my fault I will shake my head. It's just life, players do different things up there. I have noticed it. I don't think I do it a lot, but I do it now and again.
SID: I think you're sometimes off balance after a miss? Do you think your disappointment in games affects your style?
GARY: I wouldn't say it puts me off. It's just that I know where the darts should be going and it's not where it is. I'm like: 'What are you doing?'
SID: Why do you get so worried when you miss doubles?
GARY: I never do worry. If I'm playing Phil I won't be worried one little bit because you know what you're going to get off him. If you can beat him you're a hero because you're playing probably the best there's ever been, so why worry?
SID: So it's not in your nature to be a worrier?
GARY: No. If I get beat in the first round I will not lose a wink of sleep over it. People on websites and that will say 'he's had a bad game', but I don't really care. I'm there for myself and not anybody else. I lost to Phil 16-4 in the Grand Slam Final and within five minutes it did not bother me. I'm looking forward to the next game. A lot of people will drown their sorrows, but I won't. It's just a game and I ain't going to lose any sleep over it.
SID: You don't seem to fret so much when you're playing a longer format of the game. Surely you know your class will shine through in shorter games?
GARY: Sometimes on stage it seems to take a while to get going. On the floor tournaments I start off great right away because it's short legs, first to six, but for some reason on stage it takes a little while to settle in. You get nervous now and again - I've been doing it long enough so I shouldn't be - but you still get the jitters and the nerves. My game used to be coming out firing straight away, but it just seems now on the stage it takes me a few legs to get into it, so I do prefer the longer matches because you can go two or three legs behind, but you've got time to pick up. But if you're 3-0 down and it's first to six then it is panic stations.
SID: You told me in Ireland last year that you sometime drink between 10 and 15 cups of coffee a day...
GARY: And the rest! I love my coffee, I must admit I'm a coffee addict.
SID: If I have even four cups I turn into Jabba the Sid, I'm jabbering for hours!
GARY: I can drink 20 cups and still sleep for 12 hours. I've had four cups in the last hour before doing this interview! I know it's not good for you, but I'd rather have coffee than alcohol to be perfectly honest.
SID: Apparently Jose Mourinho banned the Real Madrid players from drinking dark chocolate and coffee after a certain time of day because he says it affects their performance.
GARY: Well I think some of the footballers need a bit of coffee and chocolate. They need to do a bit more work!
SID: Will you be limiting your coffee intake at the World Championship?
GARY: No. I really love my coffee. I'll even have a cup just before I go to bed. It's not a problem.
Tune in for the World Darts Championship live on Sky Sports from Thursday December 15 until Monday January 2.
