Lege zalen zorgen voor ''drastische'' verandering aan pijlen Aspinall

Nathan Aspinall heeft uit de doeken gedaan dat de lege zalen hem gedwongen hebben een drastische verandering aan zijn pijlen door te voeren voor de Ladbrokes Masters van komend weekend.

Aspinall neemt het in de tweede ronde op tegen de winnaar van de wedstrijd tussen Ian White en Mensur SUljovic. Het toernooi begint op vrijdag, achter gesloten deuren in de Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.

Ondanks dat Aspinall de finale van de Premier League haalde in zijn debuutjaar, was hij toch gefrustreerd over een ondermaats 2020. Daarom heeft de 29-jarige nu besloten om afscheid te nemen van de pijlen die hem twee TV-titels bezorgden.

ASPINALL: "After losing at Ally Pally I had a bit of time to reflect and I made the decision to change equipment.

Since I've played darts I've always used pretty much the same dart. I've used the same set for the last three years so this is a drastic change for me.

It's something I've never done before but the back end of last year was pretty poor for me, so the only way is up.

Without fans in at the moment the arenas we play in are a bit colder, and that sometimes means I struggle to grip my darts which leads to an incorrect release.

I've got to put things in place that will help me combat that, so I've gone with a more aggressive grip so I'm prepared.

I'm playing really well with my new darts and I'm looking forward to using them."

Aspinall schreef afgelopen voorjaar geschiedenis door de eerste editie van de PDC Home Tour te winnen, voordat hij ten onder ging in de finale van de Premier League tegen Glen Durrant.

ASPINALL: "Before lockdown I think I was one of the best players in the world. I was winning ProTours, flying high in the Premier League and had a New York trip to look forward to.

Then lockdown happened. I won the Home Tour and got to a Premier League final but I wasn't enjoying it.

The PDC did everything right to get the TV tournaments on but I struggled living a solitary life in hotel rooms.

I didn't pick a dart up for nearly three weeks after Ally Pally. I spent some quality time with the family.

But I've been back at it the last two weeks, practicing hard.

The back end of last year didn't go how I would've liked or how I planned it in my head, but that's darts.

I'm going to have a bit more hunger this year, not get complacent and get back to what I was doing earlier in the year winning tournaments."

Ladbrokes Masters 2021
Vrijdag 29 januari (20.00)
8x Eerste ronde
Ian White v Mensur Suljovic
Glen Durrant v Mervyn King
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Chris Dobey
Krzysztof Ratajski v Simon Whitlock
Michael Smith v Adrian Lewis
Daryl Gurney v Jeffrey de Zwaan
Jose de Sousa v Jonny Clayton
Joe Cullen v Stephen Bunting

Zaterdag 30 januari
Middagsessie (13.45)
4x Tweede ronde
Rob Cross v Durrant/King
James Wade v Van den Bergh/Dobey
Nathan Aspinall v White/Suljovic
Dave Chisnall v Gurney/De Zwaan

Avondsessie (20.00)
4x Tweede ronde
Gary Anderson v Smith/Lewis
Peter Wright v Ratajski/Whitlock
Gerwyn Price v Cullen/Bunting
Michael van Gerwen v De Sousa/Clayton

Zondag 31 januari
Middagsessie (13.45)
Kwartfinales

Avondsessie (20.00)
Halve finales
Finale