James Wade snuck through at the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam, and he was the first to admit that Damon Heta had chances to beat him — but couldn't make them stick. "The Machine" saved his skin to zip through to the next part of the tournament, though he found being interviewed more of a concern than the match itself.
Wade, who won a European Tour just this past weekend and had previously won on the World Series in his previous tournament, took some time off after that Oceanic double header. But he was in no mood to laud praise on his own performance, instead saying in his view Heta bottled it. "The most concerning thing was the stairs up here to get to talk to you. I'm really disappointed I had to go upstairs to talk to you. But no, I'm really, really grateful," Wade told Online Darts. "I was pretty rubbish, but I was pretty good as well. But I just couldn't tie a whole game together and thankfully Damon, I would say, bottled it."
Riding his luck, Wade said he will take it on this occasion after, in his words, not really having it over the past three years or so. "I haven't had that luck for the last 20 months, so I'll take that. Maybe that's because I've done all right recently. Boys, come here for an interview, come on. I haven't had that luck for a long time and I'll take it with open arms. I'm not a proud person, I've got no morals."
He also showed on his social media fans waiting for him after he won his title in Antwerp last weekend, which saw him end a 10-year wait for a European Tour, and he joked that there were seven of them before looking into the future to see where he might stop his illustrious career. "There were seven of them. It's a wonderful feeling. It's a magical thing to be involved in with darts. It's also a spiteful, nasty thing to be involved in. When it's going well, it's great. When it's going bad, it's bad. But I'm coming to the twilight of my career. I'm active though, unlike some others that talk a lot of heat. I'm just going to keep going for the next seven or eight years, secure my family's life and hopefully, if I can, still be competitive. That's the most important thing to me. It's the same for every man, woman and child. They want their family to do well, don't they? That's what drives the British people. That's why British people have been the best."
