Darts: Gary Anderson has no retirement plans as he aims to rediscover top form

Gary Anderson says he has found it hard to practice without company during lockdown

Two-time PDC World Darts champion Gary Anderson has dismissed any talk of retirement, insisting: "I still enjoy playing the game."

The 50-year-old Scot describes the past two years as "dreadful", with injuries and the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic affecting his form.

But Anderson, preparing for the Masters in Milton Keynes this weekend, says he has not contemplated calling it a day.

"I heard the rumours - I just played along with it," he told BBC Scotland.

"I don't give anybody any idea what I am doing. I have always said I will never retire, I will just stop playing so, if any time down the line I still wanted to play darts, I could come back without having to say that I am coming out of retirement.

"It's like any other job, there are days that you wake up and you go 'I don't want to do this'. That is like everyone on the planet. I still enjoy playing the game."

While his game may not be where he wants it to be, Anderson, champion in 2015 and 2016, reached his fifth world final this month, losing out to Gerwyn Price.

That has given the 'Flying Scotsman' cause for optimism for the new season opener.

"I made the final of the Matchplay and the Worlds and I am not even close to playing how I should be," he said. "I know myself the amount of practice and time that I have spent on a dart board. Just to get to those finals meant a lot.

"I have always said, if I never win another thing, so be it, I have done all right in the sport, a lot more than most people, so I don't think I have got anything to prove to anybody or to myself.

"I know I can still play. It is just getting back to constantly playing like I used to."