Phil Taylor: Hunted or hunter?

After more than two decades at the top, Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor is adjusting to life as a plucky underdog. It’s a role he is learning to enjoy, as Sky Sports discovered…

It can’t be easy sitting in the background while a young upstart basks in glory that was once yours. Arriving in a thunderstorm of green, the brutal and brilliant Michael van Gerwen has crushed everything in his path – including, it often seemed, the future prospects of darts’ greatest and most famous player.

Taylor has had 10 years to watch the rise of Van Gerwen, the most dangerous threat to his throne, initially from afar but now from across the oche. The Dutchman has a healthy disrespect for his esteemed rival’s reputation and a mercilessness about overhauling him.

“He’s been dominating the sport for a little bit, and people are writing that he’s the best player that’s ever been,” Taylor said through gritted teeth, in a Sky Sports exclusive. “That sends out a little challenge to people.”

Aged 56, Taylor has accrued 16 world titles and millions of pounds in a sport that he first entered when packed-out arenas were a pipedream. He can be brittle company, acutely aware his words carry gravitas, but Sky Sports have caught him in a reflective, optimistic mood.

There is good reason for Taylor’s chest to be puffed out. An 11-5 win over Van Gerwen last weekend in the final of the Champions League of Darts was the latest evidence that there’s fight in the old dog yet.

“Career-wise …

continue reading in source www.skysports.com