‘I don’t care’ – Two darts stars make shock World Championship claim

Ryan Searle has claimed only two PDC stars care less about darts than him despite his Alexandra Palace heroics.

The world no.20 is into the last 16 of the PDC World Darts Championship for the fourth time in his career having thumped Martin Schindler 4-0 on Sunday.

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Searle booked his place in the fourth round with a 4-0 victory over Martin Schindler on Sunday.

Heavy Metal will now face James Hurrell for a place in the quarter-finals having already guaranteed himself £60,000 in prize money.

However, the 38-year-old has admitted he has had to work on his focus in order to improve his performances and results.

Searle even revealed he believes only two other players care less about the sport than him in an honest press conference.

Searle makes honest admission

Speaking after his win over Schindler, he explained: “There’s probably two people on the tour that care less than me and one of them is Ryan Joyce, and the other is Gary Anderson.

“I don’t think there’s anyone else that cares less than I do.

“It’s just about focusing and getting your head right. If you can’t get your head right for £1million, at the end of the day you shouldn’t be playing the game.

“I’ve switched to the new darts, I think I played at Minehead with them, I played so well against Jermaine (Wattimena) at the start of the game and I just sort of fell off a cliff.

“I don’t actually know what happened. I was absolutely flying and just fell off a cliff, I don’t really know what happened there.

“It’s more about focus than anything else. That’s something I’ve always struggled with, my focus, and something that I’m trying to work on even in my practice sessions.

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“I was in the hotel practicing on my own last night and just trying to stay focused in the sessions instead of throwing and not caring and it seems to be working.”

Searle was beaten in the third round by Jermaine Wattimena at last month’s Players Championship Finals at Minehead.

That defeat at the final event before the PDC World Darts Championship remains his last loss on the oche.

He is now into the last 16 for the first time in four years and has climbed to 17th in the provisional world rankings.

Anderson on third world title

Searle is not the only player to admit he ‘doesn’t care’, though, with Anderson making a similar claim.

The two-time world champion beat Wattimena in a seven-set thriller to reach the fourth round on Sunday.

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His 4-3 victory sets up a clash against either Michael van Gerwen or Arno Merk in the last 16.

After the match, Anderson was asked if he can win a third world title this year despite Luke Littler and Luke Humphries being heavy favourites.

The Scot replied: “I don’t care, let the youngsters do it. I’m just here to cause a headache. I like playing them.

“It was donkeys (years) ago that all I wanted to play was Phil Taylor, Ronnie Baxter, players like that, Kevin Painter and I managed to do it over the years.

“I played Luke Littler, Grand Slam last year. I’m still kicking myself about that one. I could’ve (beaten him).

“They’re the two best players on the planet, end of, so of course you’re going to talk about them.”

Anderson was beaten 16-15 by Littler after a last-leg decider in the semi-finals of the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts.

The Flying Scotsman had led 13-9 earlier in the match before losing seven of the final nine legs.

Littler went on to win the tournament, which is one of the few majors Anderson has yet to win.

Meanwhile, his last Ally Pally triumph came back in 2016, with the 55-year-old the last player to win back-to-back world titles.