WHEN Glen Durrant reflects on his difficult "rapid decline" as a darts player, one night in particular springs to mind.

"I remember losing to Dimitri van den Bergh in the Premier League and I knew the next day I was playing Michael van Gerwen and the day after that I had Gerwyn Price," the Teessider recalls.

"It was during covid, behind closed doors, and I'm not embarrassed to say I went back to my hotel room that night, sat on the bed and cried. I was thinking, 'what's happened? How can I go from being the best player in the world to not even being the best player in my family?' It was tough to take.

"In 2019 I won 76% of my games, second year I won 65% of my games, third year I won 25% of my games, in my final year I won 4% of my games. I could have taken a slight decline each year and retired at 55 as was the plan but that rapid decline was tough to take."

For a while, Durrant wondered what was next. He considered going back into housing, the industry in which he'd worked before his incredible rise on the oche and a glorious spell of success which saw him win the Lakeside world title on three occasions and the prestigious Premier League after switching to the PDC.

But he still had too much to offer in darts, even if his game wasn't what it once was. And while losing his playing card actually came as a "relief", Durrant set about putting his know-how and experience to good use in other ways.

The 53-year-old started coaching, which has been a huge success, as has his transition into commentary - and he's just signed a contract with Sky Sports.

"I fell in love with the commentary," he says.

"It was a relief when I lost my card. You can only take being beat 6-0 so many times. It was horrific. I was driving to the competitions knowing I was going to lose because I knew my practice was awful. It was difficult to take.

"But I found my mojo with my coaching and my commentary. Initially I was trying to use words I've never used before and it took someone to tell me to be myself, to imagine I'm down the pub and I'm talking about Luke Littler vs Luke Humphreys. That was the best advice I got."

The conversation had to turn to Littler at some stage.

"He's generational," says Durrant of the teenage sensation, who made the world final and this week won his first title on the floor.

"It's the small things I see that may surprise you, the fact he's not giving Gerwyn Price eye contact. When I played Price, I was intimidated. Luke doesn't seem to get that intimidation.

"It's those small things. When you go in to a players area you can win or lose games, apparently Luke just sits there and plays FIFA. He's not trying to be liked, he's just being himself. He's generational. You're witnessing something very, very special."

From the youthfulness of Littler to the game's experienced campaigners - Durrant is back on the oche tonight at the World Seniors at the Circus Tavern, in Purfleet, where he takes on Mark Dudbridge in the first round.

"I've stripped it all back," he says.

"I've gone to the pear flights and the darts I used to beat van Gerwen and all them. I know it's not the darts that has made me a bad player, it's overthinking. I don't throw the same these days as much as I try and that's the problem, trying and thinking.

"The guy who won all the Lakeside titles, all I saw was the treble 20. The game came easy. I overcomplicated the game.

"I've just had 10 minutes on the board there and hit 10 180s and you think great it's back, as soon as you play a game that's when the yips come in. If I can keep it smooth I'm OK."

Duzza is more grateful than ever to his sponsors, including long-time supporters SMC Carpets and Ultimate Windows, and new backers Industro Engineering Group.

"Everyone knows how passionate I am about Teesside and it means so much to me to have local sponsors," he says.

John Betts, managing director at Industro, said: "We're all huge darts fans and Glen has been in to do some coaching with us. We're proud and delighted to be able to support Glen, he's put Teesside on the map."