Gary Anderson suffered an embarrassing single-figure score during his World Grand Prix defeat to Michael van Gerwen.
Anderson has endured a difficult 12 months, finishing bottom of the Premier League, and his fortunes didn't improve in Leicester as he was beaten 2-0 by Van Gerwen.
While the Scot did show some flashes of his best, there was one visit to the oche which left him ruefully chuckling to himself at the Morningside Arena.
Aiming for treble 20, Anderson veered off to the right and scored treble one with his first and second throws. And history repeated itself with his third after he refused to switch to 19s, leaving the two-time world champion with a score of just nine.
Anderson has indicated he is coming to the end of his impressive career and admitted his passion for darts has faded.
And Van Gerwen, who has enjoyed many duels with the 51-year-old over the years, revealed the nickname he had been given by his fellow players.
“I put Gary quite high up because of his talent and what he is capable of it,” MVG told Online Darts TV . “But lately I don’t think he does enough for his own game.
“In the practice room, we call him the part-timer. He does whatever he wants. That’s also his right. He’s been on the tour for so long, what do you expect?
“I like the bloke, I hope he keeps battling on with me for the next 10 years but I don’t know what’s going to happen.
“You never know with Gary. He still has a lot of talent and is a brilliant player, so you have to perform well. We both missed so many doubles in the first set, but the second set is something to build on for the next round.”
