The Ladbrokes.com PDC World Championship final tomorrow will not feel the same without Phil Taylor. He has graced the concluding occasion every year since the PDC event began in 1994, winning it 11 times. But never has he looked as vulnerable as over the past two weeks. He had not been taken to the final set in consecutive matches in the history of the tournament, but he departed on Saturday night, unable to fashion a fourth dramatic escape in a row, this time against Wayne Mardle.

The spark was largely missing, even though Taylor went into the tournament in outstanding form. The world No 1 had won four consecutive tournaments and lifted the Grand Slam of Darts with an average of nearly 102 last month.

Taylor admitted that some of his weariness came from playing too many exhibition matches recently, which, while lucrative, have had a draining effect. The PDC wants him to reduce the number of those events, too.

“I have been doing six or seven a week, two or three a night,” Taylor said after his 5-4 defeat in the quarter-final. “You cannot do it. I felt flat against Mardle and my energy level dropped. The averages were rubbish. I did not prepare properly and feel awful saying that. Sometimes you can be a casualty of your own success.”

Taylor will take a break until the Whyte & Mackay Premier League begins at the end of next month. At 47, he has given himself five more years in a sport that he has dominated before he calls it a day. “You are going to have a little b*****d in Phil Taylor, a little scrapper,” Taylor said. “An ultra professional, Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe wrapped into one. If I can play as I can, it does not matter how others improve. I am after every title. After that I will be in Mauritius.

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