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Friday 13 December 2019 14:02, UK
The legendary Phil Taylor insists he would still be able to make the World Darts Championship final, but his bad hip has prevented him from making a shock comeback.
The unprecedented 16-time world champion retired following the conclusion of the 2018 tournament two years ago, but admits he still feels competitive.
When asked if he would have liked to play in the upcoming world championship which starts on Friday, live on Sky Sports Darts, he replied: "When I'm watching, yes. I'm not really a big watcher of darts but I do enjoy it when I watch it.
"But you want to play. You're thinking 'I could beat him now'. That's the only reason I don't watch a great deal of it.
"They would love it! Michael [van Gerwen] would love me to be at the World Championships, trust me."
If I had a wildcard, I would. I'd beat half of them without any bother, of course I would. I'd get to the final.
Taylor, who amassed 79 major PDC titles during his career, lost his last competitive match against Rob Cross in the 2018 final.
The 59-year-old from Stoke-on-Trent added if he was given the opportunity to play at Alexandra Palace this year, he would be confident of getting to the latter stages of the tournament.
He said: "If I had a wildcard, I would. I'd beat half of them without any bother, of course I would. I'd get to the final!"
However, a return to darts looks unlikely for Taylor, admitting he has thought about entering the UK Open, but health reasons have prevented him from doing so.
Taylor added: "I thought about it next year, but I've got other things that have come in now unfortunately. I've not got the time.
"My hip has gone. I've got arthritis in my hip. It's been going for about 10 years but I've got time now to just nip in and get it done and time to recuperate."
"I was going to go and enter it just for a bit of fun, to see how far I could get through. To see their faces laughing at me."
The action returns with the World Championship at Alexandra Palace. It all gets underway on Friday, December 13 on Sky Sports Darts.
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