Nathan Aspinall has suffered from dartitis since 2023 (Image: Getty)
has revealed that he was once reduced to tears due to a condition known in darts as ‘dartitis’. The 33-year-old was first affected during his 2023 campaign, when he blew a 4-0 lead against .
Dartitis is a psychological condition that affects a player’s ability to throw a dart at the right time. Similar issues are experienced by players in golf and tennis.
Not many players recover from dartitis but Aspinall has developed coping mechanisms. He was left in tears during his 6-5 defeat against Wright last year and has opened up on his anger after the match.
“All of a sudden out of nowhere I couldn’t throw my effing dart. I just couldn’t let it go. It ended up getting worse and worse and worse to the point where I was in tears,” Aspinall told Game of Throws documentary.
“Because I knew what it was. The dreaded D-word that no darts player ever wants to hear or get. Something called dartitis.
“It’s horrific, no one ever wants to get it. Not many people come back from it. It’s basically the fear of missing. There’s somewhere deep in the back of your head saying, ‘You’re going to miss this’ so you stop.
“I lost the game 6-5, I went upstairs after the game and I was in the toilet and I was absolutely smashing ten lumps of s*** out of the hand dryer. I lost my head.”
Aspinall went on to win a couple of months after the match against Wright, sealing the second major title of his career. He still suffers from the condition but saw a sports psychologist to develop coping mechanisms.
Nathan Aspinall has developed coping mechanisms to deal with dartitis (Image: Getty)
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One of those involves keeping a picture of his daughters on his darts case. The image makes him smile and he is able to compose himself.
Another famous sufferer of dartitis was Eric Bristow, who once revealed: “I got dartitis in 1987, a psychological condition which means you can’t let your darts go properly.
“For a time I wondered what the hell I was going to do if I didn’t recover. But I remained positive and, thankfully, got over it. It occurred during the Swedish Open.
“It sounds ridiculous but some people never play again once they get it. It took me 10 years to get rid of it completely, but I still don’t know how I got it or got rid of it. It unquestionably cut my career short, but I’m positive about it. I’m just glad I didn’t get it 15 years earlier!”