LOCK-IN CAN HELP PETER GRAB GLORY
PETER WRIGHT reckons locking himself away is the key to winning a second William Hill World Championship.
Snakebite has been in hiding for a fortnight in a bid to steer clear of the Covid virus which has ruined the dreams of some of his rivals.
Michael van Gerwen, Vincent van der Voort and Dave Chisnall are all out of the event after positive tests, with others fearing a similar fate.
Wright refused to stay in the designated tournament hotel, where the Dutch pair are now isolating, and sorted his own private space with his wife and father in law.
He said: “We’ve just been locked away in our Air B&B, so I haven’t got any worries about catching anything.
“It’s just the three of us, we have our own food and everything there.
“If the PDC brings in a rule that we have to be in a hotel next year, I won’t be in the tournament.
“I put my foot down this year and said, ‘I am not staying in a hotel.’
“You have to look after your career.
“Hopefully next year people like Michael and Vincent might learn from this and try to find their own place to stay with their own separate bubble. You have to be like that.”
Wright goes into today’s quarter-finals as big favourite to advance beyond Callan Rydz and progress to tomorrow’s semi-finals.
But Scotland’s World Cup winner is wary of the young Geordie who has dropped just one set in his own run to this stage.
Wright was also concerned with aspects of his showing in the win over Ryan Searle and said: “I couldn’t find the pitch. I couldn’t get the first dart in comfortably.
“Maybe I should have used different darts and I might have been alright but Ryan struggled too.
“We’re playing over sets. If you think of the Players Championship, that’s just a standard TV tournament you have to try and win.
“But this is the World Championships where everything matters, it’s totally different.
“I don’t think the pressure will get to Callan at all because he is just flowing and when ever anyone has been getting close to him, he’s just stepped it up.”