Nathan Aspinall is hoping memories of last year's 'life-changing' William Hill World Darts Championship can spur him on to more success at this year's event.
A 500/1 shot going into last year's World Championship, Aspinall enjoyed a sensational Alexandra Palace debut as he reached the semi-finals, picking up £100,000 in prize money.
The UK Open champion is now up to 12th in the world and Aspinall admits he is drawing on last year's exploits as inspiration as he looks to continue his rags-to-riches rise.
"I've got some happy memories from last year and hopefully this year I can be more relaxed from the start, perform well straight from the off and hopefully go one further," said Aspinall, who will face either Andy Boulton or Danny Baggish in round two.
"I've had a really good year. The last couple of months hasn't gone how I'd have like it to have gone but I've still been playing well.
"I proved that with hard work, self-belief and dedication you can achieve a lot of things in the world of darts.
"I've always believed in my own ability but did I think I'd reach the heights that I have this year so quick into my career? Probably not, but I have done so you've got to build on that.
"I enjoy it, I've always got a smile on my face because I'm playing with the best players in the world, I'm enjoying my life, my family is secure and every time I walk on stage I think how my life could be if I wasn't doing this.
"At the end of the day I know how good I am, but now the fans are seeing how good I am and they believe that I'm one of the best players in the world, so I'm obviously doing something right.
"I do believe I belong with these tops boys but because it's happened so quickly it's hard for me to process it all, but I'm loving it."
The 2019/2020 William Hill World Darts Championship will be held from December 13-January 1 at Alexandra Palace in London.
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The tournament will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK, on PDCTV-HD for Rest of the World Subscribers and through the PDC's worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and RTL7.