James Wade took aim at an unnamed player he believes has been "inflated and blown up by Sky and the PDC" after recovering from a set down to beat Joe Cullen in the first round of the World Grand Prix in Leicester. The two-time champion survived an evening of missed doubles to win 2-1, eventually converting his seventh match dart.
In his post-match press conference, a question about the value of experience prompted Wade to turn his attention to an earlier result in Leicester. "Years ago, I probably thought that might be quite a big statement and quite a bold thing, but I just think there are so many great players now. It's bloody hard. It genuinely is really, really hard," he said. "You get average players who have their half-decent game. I watched it earlier on. I'm not going to say names, actually, because that makes me sound like a right tit."
"There was someone earlier on who beat someone who's experienced, but they have been inflated and blown up by Sky and the PDC," Wade continued. "Someone else played their all-right game and beat them. It's a hard, hard format. It's a hard, hard tournament, and very few of us have been lucky enough to win it." Wade notably did not identify the player.
His own victory reversed last year's opening-round defeat to Cullen, who had again threatened to end his campaign at the first hurdle. Cullen took the opening set 3-1 as Wade struggled to convert his chances. A 106 checkout got the left-hander on the board, but he could not recover the early break. Wade levelled by taking the second set 3-1, finishing it on the bull, before moving two legs clear in the decider. Six missed match darts allowed Cullen to break back with a 75 checkout, but Wade closed out the next leg to advance.
Asked whether his onstage demeanour reflected frustration with the early part of the match, Wade replied: "No, I'm happy with all of it. I played someone who played exceptionally well compared with where he is at the moment in the rankings and the standard, and I'm just happy to win the game. Really, really happy. He was probably a far harder task than 70 or 80 per cent of the people in the field."
The suggestion that Cullen was difficult to prepare for because of his inconsistent performances drew another disagreement. "Playing anyone is difficult because they're all so, so good," Wade said. "There's no secret, is there? Let's be honest. Let's cut all the rubbish. Every single dart player who walks on that stage can average 100. Unlikely, but they all can do it. That's what makes darts torturous, but great for the press and spectators."
Wade arrived in Leicester following his recent European Tour success in Antwerp. Asked how prepared he felt for the closing months of the season, he said: "I'm doing all right. I think I'm better than most. Not as good as others, but that's truthfully how I feel. I'm better than so many players in this tournament, but I'm not as good as some of the others. If you look at my form, I'm better than most of them. But talk is cheap, and I love cheap talk because that's great for darts."
A later question about whether he could turn that form into another major title drew a sharper response. "I think it's quite naive to ask that question, but I think I'm doing far better than others you think can win, who are favourites," Wade replied. "So I think I can do that." When asked whether his form placed him among the top two or three, Wade challenged the interviewer to examine his numbers. "If you look at averages, because the press love averages, don't they? They love all the nonsense around that," he said. "If you look at where I am, what I'm averaging and what I'm doing... Have you looked at that? Or have you just looked at where the rabbit's going?" After the interviewer confirmed he had looked at Wade's performances, the former champion put himself "probably in the top 20, top 15" and added: "I still know I can win tournaments." Before the next question, Wade told the reporter: "Sorry, I didn't mean to sound like an arse."
Wade's first World Grand Prix triumph came in 2007, a date which prompted an incredulous "Jesus, was it that long?" when mentioned in the press room. He won the tournament again in 2010 and was involved in one of its most memorable matches four years later, when both he and Robert Thornton hit nine-darters at Citywest. Thornton had returned to Dublin after attending his mother's funeral earlier that day. Wade won 3-2, but still remembers the Scot's performance as one of the toughest he encountered at the event. "Everyone said, 'Oh, Robert's buried his mum. He's not going to be any good,' blah, blah, blah. And I probably played the best version of Robert Thornton," he recalled. "That was probably the toughest game I've ever played in this tournament. It's a shame now it's held in Leicester and not in Citywest." Brendan Dolan had also hit a nine-darter against Wade at the tournament. "Every dog has their day, including myself," Wade said.
Almost two decades after his first title, Wade remains frustrated by the recurring debate about whether he can add another. "I just think I'm fortunate to be involved in it. I am fortunate to be involved in it, but I'm also quite bored of the 'maybe you can, maybe you can't'," he said. "We all know how good we are at what we do. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. The same with the press in here: sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. But I know I've got more good than bad, and I know I can do more than a lot of players who think they're good. I think that's the right way of putting it."
Wade placed only Phil Taylor ahead of him when judging careers by longevity. "If you're going on longevity, I'm probably the second-best dart player in the world of all time by an absolute country mile," he said. "The best player, longevity-wise, would be Phil Taylor because he is just unbelievable." The younger players arriving on tour have nevertheless forced him to keep working on his own game. "I have to improve because all the young players are improving. I just get dragged along because all those players who are younger than me are, at times, better than me," Wade said. "But then I always shock them when I can turn up and play a little bit better than them. I just keep following the younger trend. I keep dragging along, and I'll keep doing what I'm doing."
"I believe in my heart of hearts I'm probably one of the best dart players through time that will ever be. That's what I believe," he added. "There are lots of dart players better than me, but over longevity, I don't think there are many."
Away from the arguments about rankings and reputations, Wade's reasons for continuing are rooted in his family. "I'm still here because I need to still be here. I can't earn what I earn outside of darts," he said. "That's quite a simplistic equation and quite a simplistic answer. This is my job, and my job is to do better for my children than I've had done for me. I want to give my children everything I didn't have. I think that's the same for everyone who does their job. I'm still here because I want a better life for my children."
His previous career as a mechanic also supplied a lighter moment, with Wade teasing the French reporters about the vehicles that had kept his workshop busy. "If it wasn't for French cars, I would have been very, very quiet in my workshop. French cars are the worst cars in the world," he joked. "That's great for people like me, though, because they're really bad!" Of his current profession, he added: "I believe darts is probably one of the hardest competitive sports in the world."
The next round gives Wade more room to recover than Tuesday's opener, with matches extending to best of five sets. He has already overturned last year's defeat to Cullen; the longer wait is for a third World Grand Prix title, 16 years after his second.
