AHEAD of Thursday's Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts night at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, Phil Taylor has revealed he is working 'harder than ever' in his bid to reclaim major honours.
Taylor's form has been the subject of great debate in recent weeks, after he was a quarter-final loser in the Ladbrokes.com PDC World Darts Championship - the first time in 15 years he had not reached the final - and lost two of his opening three Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts games.
The 13-time World Champion has opted to change darts since the New Year, and believes that he will eventually hit back as a better player than he ever has been.
"I love winning and I practice to win," said Taylor, who faces Peter Manley at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry on Thursday.
"As far as winning tournaments goes, who knows? Maybe I'll win a few more, maybe I won't, but it won't be for the lack of trying.
"I'm working harder than I've ever done and that's respect, because the other players are doing it.
"I practice with Adrian Lewis sometimes for three or four hours a day, and sometimes he goes back and does another two or three hours - I can't do that, I'm shattered after four hours!
"The youngsters can beat me on fitness but I'll keep trying."
He added: "I've changed a few things and it's not going to work overnight but I'm not worried.
"It's making me try harder and keep practising. I'm playing fantastically in practice but I'm not good enough yet, so I have to practice harder now."
Taylor went through the opening three years of the Premier League unbeaten before coming out on the losing side to James Wade in week one and, last Thursday, to Terry Jenkins in Manchester.
"I didn't play well enough against Terry," he said. "I was a little scrappy in the middle and lost concentration but Terry was superb and his doubles were great.
"It's nice to see him back playing the way he can and the way he played was the way you have to if you're going to beat me."
Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts
Night Four, Ricoh Arena, Coventry
John Part v James Wade
Wayne Mardle v Adrian Lewis
Peter Manley v Phil Taylor
Terry Jenkins v Raymond van Barneveld
Live on Sky Sports One from 7.30pm on Thursday 21 February
Follow the action live in DartsTV, with Live Audio Commentary for subscribers and a Free Live Scoreboard, along with Highlights available from Friday evening
Click here to purchase the official 2008 Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts programme