Kyle Anderson admits he feared for his life during his battle with Covid-19, ahead of his welcome return to action in tonight's Unibet Home Tour Group 23.
Australian number two Anderson tested positive for coronavirus on March 29, before spending over four weeks in isolation on a nearby farm in Mount Morgan, Queensland.
Although the former Auckland Darts Masters champion did not require hospital treatment and did not suffer from serious symptoms, the continued positive tests kept him in isolation.
Having finally received a negative test result on Thursday, April 30, Anderson returned to be with wife Tara and son Charles.
The Australian World Cup representative will join tonight's live broadcast from his home in Perth, but revealed there were times when he feared he wouldn’t make it through the illness.
“There was one time at night when I woke up and I was coughing. Then I thought to myself, and this might be morbid, am I going to wake up from this?" Anderson revealed.
“I had a coughing fit and I thought to myself: ‘Is this it? Will I fall asleep and not wake up?’
“Thank God I woke up. It was very real for me. I was scared to the point where I didn’t know what would happen next.
"In England I'm 30 hours away but there it was 30 minutes. The hardest thing was not being allowed to get up and come to the family - by law I couldn't go out.
"It's so good to be back with them. I spend the majority of my time abroad, so to come home and spend this time with them has been great and we've got that connection back that we haven't had for a while."
Joining Anderson in tonight's Unibet Home Tour Group 23 will be Germany's Martin Schindler, Dutchman Dirk van Duijvenbode and Sweden's Daniel Larsson.
All four competitors will play each other once in matches played over the best of nine legs, with a winner crowned at the end of the night.
Anderson added: “I couldn't throw a dart for five weeks while I was in isolation so it was weird playing again - I was getting angry with myself.
"I don't usually have a darts set-up at home but I've got a Unicorn stand and it's set up in my garage.
"I've played a friend online but it wasn't good but had some good practice, but I'll be able to be more focused.
"It will be good to get back to playing, but I'm not sure how I'll go. I'm a bit nervous because it might take me some time to get back into it."
Unibet Home Tour
Group 18 - Monday May 4
Kyle Anderson v Daniel Larsson
Martin Schindler v Dirk van Duijvenbode
Daniel Larsson v Dirk van Duijvenbode
Kyle Anderson v Martin Schindler
Martin Schindler v Daniel Larsson
Dirk van Duijvenbode v Kyle Anderson
MATCH ODDS
4/9 Kyle Anderson v Daniel Larsson 7/4
11/8 Martin Schindler v Dirk Van Duijvenbode 4/6
7/4 Daniel Larsson v Dirk Van Duijvenbode 2/5
4/6 Kyle Anderson v Martin Schindler 11/10
8/15 Martin Schindler v Daniel Larsson 6/4
8/11 Dirk Van Duijvenbode v Kyle Anderson Evens
All odds courtesy of unibet.co.uk and correct at time of publication.
HOW TO WATCH
All Home Tour action will be broadcast live on PDCTV for FREE to ALL registered PDCTV users, regardless of whether you have a paid or free membership.
Registered PDCTV members can also watch for FREE through the official PDC App.
Fans in Great Britain and Ireland can watch the action through the Sky Sports app.
As well as being shown through a series of bookmakers’ websites, the Unibet Home Tour will also be broadcast live by a number of the PDC's international broadcast partners listed below.
Unibet Home Tour - International Broadcast Partners
Fox Australia - Australia
DAZN - Austria, Germany, Switzerland USA, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Italy, Spain
AMC Network - Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia
Viaplay - Scandinavia
Sky - New Zealand
Channel 2 Sport - Iceland
Supersport - South Africa, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo (Republic of), Code d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cape Verde, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Reunion, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia (including Somaliland), South Africa, Sudan, South Sudan, Swaziland, Socotra, St. Helena and Ascension, Seychelles, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
THE STORY SO FAR
Group Winners
Group 1 – Jamie Lewis
Group 2 – Luke Woodhouse
Group 3 – Dave Chisnall
Group 4 – Geert Nentjes
Group 5 – Nick Kenny
Group 6 – Ryan Searle
Group 7 – Jelle Klaasen
Group 8 – Jonny Clayton
Group 9 – Martijn Kleermaker
Group 10 – Nathan Aspinall
Group 11 – Alan Tabern
Group 12 – Max Hopp
Group 13 – Carl Wilkinson
Group 14 – Chris Dobey
Group 15 – Darren Webster
Group 16 – Jeff Smith
Group 17 – Damon Heta
Group 18 – Stephen Bunting
Group 19 – Glen Durrant
Group 20 – Ryan Murray
Group 21 – Rob Cross
Group 22 – Jesus Noguera
