MICHAEL SMITH has revealed that he would retire from darts if he ever fell out of the world’s top 64.
The former world No1 is heading to Alexandra Palace next week having won the World Darts Championship in 2023.
Due to the PDC Order of Merit’s two-year ranking system, Smith is defending the £500,000 he earned at Ally Pally as he became world champ.
Should he lose early, Bully Boy would fall out of the world’s top 10.
But while there is a lot on the line, Smith, 34, has insisted that he is not feeling the pressure despite a down year by his lofty standards.
Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of the Worlds he said: “I really don’t [think about it], because the only thing that stresses me out now is the questions about that.
“But I’m not bothered about it, because I’m not going to fall out of the top 16.
“I might fall out of the top 10 if I don’t pull my finger out, but it means next year then, because I’ve virtually took a year now, I’ve got nothing to defend.
“So I’ve got probably about £120,000 to defend next year, so I’ll be back to work along anyway.
“So next year, not bothered, no pressure, I just want to play darts.
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“The other side of that, my management team can worry about it, my family can worry about it, I just want to play.
“As long as I don’t fall out of 64, because then I’ll retire then.
“If I fall out of 64, I won’t do Q School, because I know I wasn’t good enough, so I’ll just literally start something else.”
On his goals at Ally Pally, Smith added: “Every time I play, I want to win. So the main goal is just to win the World Championships.
“The bare minimum I’d want is at least a semi-final. Even then, semis, I’d lose £400,000 on my ranking.
“But semis for me is bare minimum, but I’m only turning up to win.
“Like you shouldn’t think about, I’d love to get to the third round of the World’s, or the last 16, you want to be the World Champion. That’s my main target, my only target, is winning.”
Smith is located in the bottom half of the draw, and after a first-round bye will get his World Championship underway by facing the winner of Kevin Doets and Noa-Lynn van Leuven.
