GLEN DURRANT admits he is still feeling the effects of contracting coronavirus, but the reigning Premier League Darts champion is confident of being in better shape for the Ladbrokes Players Championships finals that begin at the end of the month.

Durrant’s interest in the Grand Slam of Darts ended yesterday, with defeats to Jermaine Wattimena and Damon Heta having rendered his final group game with James Wade irrelevant.

The Teesside-based former BDO World champion was in equally poor form during the recent Winter series, and attributes his recent struggles to a bout of coronavirus that laid him low at the end of last month.

Durrant was diagnosed with Covid a matter of days after he beat Nathan Aspinall in the Premier League final to secure the biggest victory of his career, and it has taken him quite a while to shake-off the after-effects of the illness.

“I feel fine now, but I’m still not entirely myself,” said Durrant. “I’m on the road to recovery. I was very, very poorly. It was a really bad case of Covid that both my wife and I had.

“It knocked the stuffing out of me for about six or seven days, even to the point where I was thinking of seeking medical advice. It was horrible. It’s just been a horrible time, a rubbish few weeks. The upsetting thing is I never had chance to celebrate my Premier League win.”

Durrant accepts he should not have rushed back to compete in the Winter Series, and his game was still well below par during his opening two matches at the Grand Slam.

His early exit at least affords him an opportunity to continue his recuperation back in his Middlesbrough home, and he will be doing everything he can to ensure he is in better shape for the Players Championship finals which kick-start the biggest month of the darting year. The PDC World Championships at Alexandra Palace will begin in mid-December as usual, even though they will almost certainly have to be played behind doors.

“Am I playing Players Champs? Absolutely,” tweeted Durrant, who has been drawn against Wayne Jones in the Players Championships first round. “And I’ll be as strong as an ox after six days at home.”