Peter Wright believes he’s on the cusp of returning to his brilliant best over the coming months, insisting that he can regain the world number one spot in 2024.
Wright has endured arguably the toughest spell of his career since he reached his maiden World Championship final a decade ago, producing several below-par displays on the big stage.
Despite his struggles, the colourful Scot has scooped a brace of titles in 2023, winning January’s Nordic Darts Masters, before securing an eighth European Tour title at the Czech Darts Open in May.
However, the two-time World Champion finished bottom of this year’s Premier League following a nightmare campaign, before crashing out of last month’s World Matchplay at the second round stage.
The 53-year-old was also one of eight PDC representatives to feature in the World Series of Darts’ Oceanic double-header, and his woes continued with a shock early exit at the NZ Darts Masters.
Wright was beaten by truck driver Jonny Tata in Hamilton, and while he made the semi-finals of last weekend’s NSW Darts Masters, his campaign ended with a crushing 7-0 defeat to Rob Cross in the last four.
“I feel like my game is there,” declared Wright, speaking to the Darts Show podcast ahead of last weekend's action in Wollongong.
“The practice is going brilliant, I’m just not producing on the stage at the moment, but it doesn’t bother me, because I know I can put it right.
“If I was doing it in practice, then I would worry, but I’m hitting everything, so it’s about transferring it to the stage, and then you will start seeing proper results and proper averages.”
Wright opted for a change of approach in the early stages of the year, missing a number of ProTour and European Tour events to focus his efforts on the sport’s premier televised events.
He only featured in four of the year’s first 16 Players Championship events, and he conceded that this didn’t have the desired impact on his game.
“It didn’t suit me in the opening half of the year, as you can see with my results,” added Wright, a winner of 13 televised titles.
“I won a European Tour [in Prague] and I won the Nordic Masters, but the rest of the year has been absolutely terrible.
“I think I had a 70-odd average somewhere. It just shows that you need to be playing regularly to keep sharp, and as soon as we get home [from Australia], I will be going to all of the tournaments.
“I am looking forward to the rest of the year. I know my form will pick up because the practice is there, I just need to start doing it on the dart board.”
Wright’s early exit at the Winter Gardens saw him slip to third on the PDC Order of Merit at the expense of Michael van Gerwen, with Michael Smith maintaining his place at the summit.
Nevertheless, Wright has over £700,000 in ranking prize money to defend over the coming months, courtesy of his Players Championship Finals and World Championship wins two years ago.
The Scot has been an ever-present in the world’s top four for much of the last decade, although that status will be in serious jeopardy over the coming months.
“I’m going to work myself into the ground,” vowed Wright, who could provisionally slip to 14th on the PDC Order of Merit following the 2023/24 World Championship.
“The standard is high, but I believe I can go higher. If I believe I can still go higher than everyone else, then what’s the point of retiring?
“It is up to everyone else to stop me when I start hitting everything I want to.
“I should be able to defend these titles, and hopefully I will hardly move in the rankings.
“Next year I’ve hardly got anything to defend – maybe one European Tour and another European Tour final. That’s all I won.
“Michael van Gerwen and Michael Smith have got to defend lots, so it will be between me, Gezzy [Price] and Luke Humphries fighting for who is going to be number one.”
Listen to the full exclusive interview with Peter in the latest edition of The Darts Show Podcast - available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.