After more than two years away from the darting spotlight, Adrian Lewis, the two-time PDC World Champion finally made his competitive comeback last week at the MODUS events in the UK.
To be fair, Aide hadn’t vanished like a Trump sign in a liberal district before suddenly rocking up and asking if anyone fancied a game. No, following a hiatus caused by family health issues, and perhaps a case of burn out after almost twenty years on the PDC’s professional tour, Jackpot has been popping up on the exhibition circuit – having fun, smiling, and making maximums look as disgustingly easy as he always did.
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His last meaningful action had been at a PDC Players Championship in Barnsley back in March 2023. Another disappointing weekend was enough, and one of the most natural talents to pick up a set of arrows stepped away.
How long for? Not even Lewis knew. It was a case of getting out of Dodge and seeing how life felt without the weekly grind. Turns out, it did him the world of good. The Stoke legend is now smiling again, enjoying his darts, and crucially, ready to test himself once more.
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So the long-awaited competitive Adrian Lewis Return Tour began in Portsmouth, where he paired up with fellow darting legend Steve Beaton in the MODUS International Pairs. Not the dream comeback fairy-tale, as the duo failed to make it out of their group, but there were flashes of the old Jackpot – smooth throw, easy maximums, all done with a happy grin on his face.
Okay, it wasn’t peak Lewis. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and careers aren’t resurrected in one weekend. There’s a gulf between chucking for fun at exhibitions and grinding it out for serious prize money. But it’s a start. And with Adrian, that’s always half the battle.
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Over the weekend he joined Phil Taylor for a Q&A with a spellbound audience. Between the two of them they could probably decorate the venue with trophies and still have silverware left over to prop up the bar.
Then, on Sunday, Lewis teamed up with YouTuber JaackMaate for the MODUS Influencers event – more tongue-in-cheek than tungsten serious, but another outing to stretch the arm and raising well deserved charity funds!
Ask anyone in darts and they’ll tell you Adrian Lewis is one of the most gifted and popular players ever. Even in the age of Littler mania, that view hasn’t changed.
Talent was never the damning reason for the walkaway – it was the hunger, the drive, the inner battle between genius and distraction. Can Adrian strike the perfect balance and hit the ‘Jackpot’ once again?
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