GLEN Durrant’s meteoric rise through the professional game of darts has been nothing short of extraordinary but the last year has surely gone down as the most testing of his career.

Despite the fact that he’s gone from housing management to winning one of the most lucrative prizes in darts, you will struggle to find a more humble and level headed sportsman. But by his own admission, his confidence has taken a big knock this year.

He won the 2020 Premier League of Darts in his debut season in the PDC after making the jump up from the BDO and reached the semi finals of the World Matchplay, Grand Prix and Grand Slam. However, the defence of the title swiftly came to an end after losing every game finishing bottom of the table.

It culminated in a run of form where Duzza couldn’t buy a win in the following tournaments and subsequently pulled out of two pro tours to arrest his slump in form.

The Boro born dartsman has always maintained that he will call it a day in darts at the age of 55 but his troubling form forced fans and pundits to question his future in the PDC, despite being four years away from reaching that age.

But the time away from the attention and furore surrounding the sport seems to have done Duzza the world of good with the World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace on the horizon.

Speaking to BBC Radio Tees Sport, Durrant said: “Maybe I was just over analysing and overthinking things.

“I watched every YouTube video you can possibly watch. It gets to a stage where you are counting A, B, C, D when you get there and sometimes you just overthink and you just have to throw the dart.

“Your body changes, you get older and you don’t throw the same, from when you are 30-year-old to 50. You look at every professional out there, the throws have changed over the years.

“Just trying to have a bit of fun. It’s difficult when you’ve been playing under Covid conditions and you’ve been sat in a hotel in Milton Keynes and you’ve just been walloped 7-0 off Dimitri Van Den Berg and then you’ve got to do it all again without your family and friends around you, you’ve taken a bit of beating.

“It culminated at the Grand Prix. That’s the double off competition where I averaged 58. It was about 11:30pm, half the crowd had gone home and I just thought ‘that’s it now’.

“I’m out the limelight a bit now. I’m not in any TV tournaments until Ally Pally. It’s just a case of knuckling down.

“I’ve been doing a lot of work to this house and my dart room is going to be ready so as far as I’m concerned, I’m going to be locking myself away now for a couple of weeks and getting myself ready for the 22nd December.”

Just days away from Christmas Day, Duzza will face the winner of Irishman Michael O’Connor against American Danny Lauby Jr for a place in the third round of the competition. Heading into the competition, Durrant has slipped to 24th in the World Rankings.

Durrant has been undergoing a period of self-reflection into why the 51-year-old’s year in the game hasn’t gone to plan.

The Premier League winner has been playing under intense restrictions brought by the Covid-19 pandemic and tested positive for the virus on the eve of the International Darts Open.

He suffered lasting effects from the virus that could have had an impact on his form but he admits that there has been more contributing factors that could have led to his trouble on the oche.

Duzza added: “It happened before that. People thought it was Covid that was the reason for the lack of form but you can go back to just after the Matchplay last year.

“There was just strange things coming into my throw. When the mechanics of your throw goes, it’s really tough. Someone like Simon Whitlock can get through because they are so positive. Whereas I really began to tinker with darts, which I had never done before.

“As I say, I think I was over thinking and over analysing. In the end, you’ve just got to stand up straight.

“The good thing is I know what’s wrong with the throw, it’s just trying to correct it. Without getting too technical, it’s just the final piece of the throw where I bring the dart back and there is something which is not allowing me to do that.

“When I relax, I’m fine. A big part of it can be tension and anxiety which can be linked to lack of confidence.

“There are real reasons there that is nothing to do with moving house, nothing to do with Covid. I think I just forgot how to enjoy the game of darts again and started overthinking.”