The Ferret Digs in . . . Jonny Clayton Proves he Can Play Through the Pain

Clayton, nicknamed “the Ferret”, could barely walk at times during the evening due to a painful flare-up of the inflammatory condition in his ankle. 

Yet despite his obvious discomfort moving around the stage, his throwing arm remained deadly accurate as he defeated Michael van Gerwen, Stephen Bunting and Luke Humphries to claim his second nightly win of the campaign.

The Welshman capped the night with a commanding 6-1 victory over Humphries in the final, producing an average above 99 and landing 67% of his attempts at double. 

READ MORE: Jonny Was Good . . . But Luke Littler was Something Special in Cardiff

The win made Clayton the first player this season to secure two nightly victories and extended his lead at the top of the table to eight points after six weeks.

The result was even more remarkable given Clayton spent much of the evening hobbling around the stage. 
The repeated walk-ons and the steep steps up to the oche aggravated the problem, with his limp becoming more pronounced as the night progressed.

Clayton, who takes daily medication for gout, admitted flare-ups remain unpredictable and sometimes severe.

READ MORE: Jonny Clayton Hails Premier League Triumph as a Career Highlight

"I do get flare-ups, so obviously I take medication every day," he said.

"Funnily enough, it was in my elbow in my first year in the Premier League. So it's moved now to my ankle.

"But I have to carry on. I don't want to miss these nights.

"You just take your medication. I could go back to bed tonight, wake up tomorrow as if there's nothing there. It is weird, proper weird.

"When it comes on, it gives you a warning and if you don't catch it in time, then you know all about it. And obviously I know all about it now."

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Despite expecting the injury to hamper his performance in Nottingham, Clayton discovered that constant practice backstage actually helped ease the discomfort.

"I kept practising because it gets worse when I sit down," he told Sky Sports after his win. "So I thought 'I'm going to have to practise' - it's the most I have ever done!"

Clayton admitted he arrived in Nottingham unsure what he could produce physically.

He said he "wasn't expecting much" because of the gout, but added "my arm was OK by the look of it and that's all that counts".

While his movement was clearly restricted, his scoring power remained formidable. Clayton averaged just over 95 in comfortable 6-3 victories against both Van Gerwen and Bunting before saving his most clinical display for the final.

Humphries had earlier ended Luke Littler’s hopes of back-to-back nightly wins with a dramatic 6-5 semi-final triumph, but he could not match Clayton’s finishing in the title match and remains without a weekly victory this season.

Clayton’s consistency has been the standout feature of the campaign so far.

After five different winners in the first five weeks, the Welshman became the first to claim two nights, having also won in Glasgow and reached last week’s final in Cardiff.

He now leads the standings comfortably with 11 match victories — five more than any other player — and also tops the chart for the most 180s thrown.

"Everybody is nicking points off everybody, I wasn't expecting to be top, eight points [clear], so I'm over the moon with that," Clayton added.

The pain in his ankle has also forced Clayton to adjust his schedule. He revealed there was “no chance” he would be able to compete in the upcoming European Tour event in Germany and later withdrew from the tournament.

Humphries has also pulled out, leaving Van Gerwen as the top seed, while Littler will not play due to his ongoing boycott of events in Germany.

But if Clayton’s performance in Nottingham proved anything, it is that even when struggling to walk, the Welshman can still deliver world-class darts.