Ryan Joyce has clarified his recent comments about potentially ending his career, insisting he would never retire from darts voluntarily. Speaking after his win over Gabriel Clemens at the Austrian Darts Open in Graz, the 40-year-old admitted that while he has struggled with form, retirement is only on his mind if he loses his Tour Card.
Joyce defeated Clemens, a player he described as also struggling for form, in a nervy encounter. 'No, it’s unusual to meet three times in a couple of weeks. I think it’s very rare that happens. Obviously, I’m delighted to finally beat him. He beat me in the first round twice in a row over the last couple of Pro Tour weekends, so it’s nice to get a win against him,' Joyce told DartsNews. 'I feel like we’re both struggling at the moment. The two games we’ve played against each other have been really nervy games where we’ve both made a lot of mistakes, and he’s come out on the right side of it. I feel like today was similar. We both played some good darts and some really bad darts, but I’ve come out on the right side of it this time.'
Joyce pinpointed his lack of fitness and practice as reasons for his poor form. 'The only thing I can think of is maybe I’m not practising as hard as I should be, considering all these really good players coming through. I watch them practising all the time, and I think I haven’t got the stamina or fitness to practise as long because I get too tired. Maybe going forward I need to try and lose some more weight and practise harder. That’s all I can really think of because I haven’t changed anything from previous years.'
When asked about his earlier retirement comments, Joyce backtracked, saying they were born out of frustration. 'No, not really,' he responded. 'I think when you’re losing games and not winning, you feel that pressure. It’s not a nice feeling. Sometimes it leads you to think, “What am I going to do if I don’t get out of this slump?” You start thinking about other things. I would never retire from darts voluntarily, I’d have to lose my Tour Card first, but when you lose a lot of games in a row, you think the end might be closer than you expected. I’m going to keep trying right until the end, whenever I eventually lose my Tour Card, and hopefully that’s still a long way off. Hopefully this is just a little slump. I’ve had slumps in form before and I’ve always come out the other side, so hopefully this will be the same.'
