ADRIAN LEWIS is facing an anxious wait ahead of the start of the Cash Converters Players Championship Finals on Friday - with his wife Sarah due to give birth to a baby boy!
The World Champion is set to become a father for the second time this week, but his preparations for the £250,000 event at the Butlins Minehead resort in Somerset have been overshadowed by the impending birth.
Lewis lost out in the Group Stage of the William Hill Grand Slam of Darts a fortnight ago and admits that his focus has been off the oche recently.
"It's the biggest thing on my mind at the minute and I'm on tenterhooks," said the 27-year-old star, who is due to face Richie Burnett in the first round of the Players Championship Finals on Friday night.
"It's been hard staying focused recently and I'm waiting for the phonecall every time I'm away at a tournament.
"I want him to come before the Players Championship Finals start because I don't want to be down at Minehead waiting and then get the call to come back!"
Lewis has won only one European Tour event since he opened 2012 by winning the World Championship for a second successive year and partnered Phil Taylor to World Cup glory.
"It's been frustrating for me," admitted Lewis. "After the disappointment of the last six months it's important I do well in Minehead.
"Going into the Grand Slam my form was coming back well and then I think the short format did for me in Wolverhampton. I had a couple of missed doubles which cost me dearly in the end, but you've got to take it on the chin.
"Nobody's going to be at their best all the time. I've got plenty of years ahead of me and I'm learning all the time, and I want to get up on stage this weekend and win it.
"It's a major tournament in its own right but in most people's minds, especially mine, it's a big build-up to the World Championship.
"It's great match practice and everybody wants a good run. I reached the semi-finals of a Players Championship last weekend and that was good for me."
Lewis failed to qualify for the Players Championship Finals last year, with the event featuring the top 32 money-earners in the PDC's non-televised ProTour events during each calendar year.
His win in the German Darts Classic in Stuttgart in September secured his spot in the event this time around, and he added: "I wasn't in this event last year so it's great to be back.
"It's a tough event to win because it's five games in three days, but I'm looking forward to getting going against Richie in the first round.
"I played him in the World Grand Prix in October and really enjoyed it. He played well and we both had fun on stage, but this is a different game.
"I think that if I go up there and show the form I've been in for the last three or four weeks, I've got a great chance."
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