Jonny Clayton performs major darts U-turn as Luke Littler conqueror vows 'I’m going to be dangerous'
Jonny Clayton has restored belief he belongs among the darts elite again just months after wondering if his time was over.
The Welsh wonder reproduced some of his top form to storm to the Final of the World Masters before losing to Luke Humphries. Clayton dumped Luke Littler along the way and showed signs he can recapture the brilliance that won him major titles.
At the age of 50, The Ferret emotionally admitted at the Worlds that he didn’t know how long he had left at the top level. But Masters weekend has shown he’s still got it and given him a fresh taster as he said: “I’m glad to be back challenging the top boys, I’ve got a smile on my face and, hopefully, I’m going to be dangerous this year.
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“At the end of the day, I’m getting back slowly to what I can do. I’m trying to prove to myself that I’m still one of the elite, so I’m not going to give up. To get to any final, any major final, any European final, it’s great, I really enjoy that, even though I lost. If we can carry on like that, I’d be here for a bit longer, hopefully it carries on for a few more years.
“It’s a good start to the season and it can only put a smile and a bit of confidence into me and it’s like: I want to do well, I want to be one of the guys that they talk about, I’ve been there once and I want it back, so hopefully this year. It’s a nice way to kick it off and cross fingers it carries on.
“It just showed that when you don’t give up, it could happen. He gave me a chance on the 120, I didn’t take it obviously, but there was a chance and hopefully there’s a few more finals in me yet.”
Clayton‘s belief he could win the trophy grew over the weekend as the former Premier League winner added: “As it went on, I kept believing that I could. Nobody else stopped me, it was just the world No.1, so I’ve got to take some positives out of that, a lot of positives, brilliant.
“If you want to beat Luke Littler, you’ve got to play well, and I think I’ve done. I got ahead and I stayed ahead, and that’ll obviously give me a lot of confidence, and you know, I can do it, so hopefully one day I’m going to be back where I belong.
“I’m 55, I’ve said I’m giving up, I might change my mind, depends how good it goes, but these youngsters today, the two Lukes are going to be around for a long, long time. So if we want to win titles, we’ve got to beat those guys, so fingers crossed.”
