Nathan Aspinall already thinking of retirement: 'The calendar is absolutely obscene'

Nathan Aspinall has revealed that he plans to call time on his darts career by the age of 45 — if not sooner.

In a candid interview with SportsBoom, the 33-year-old said he already has a clear vision of what his future looks like, both on and off the oche.

“45 and I’m off," Aspinall said. "I’ve said to my partner if that’s me, it is 45. If it’s earlier than that, and we start making golfers’ money and I’ve got 30 million in the bank — happy days, I’ll be off sooner. But I don’t think it’s going to happen that quick. But yes, 45 is when I’d like to bugger off.”

Aspinall believes the landscape of professional darts has shifted massively in recent years. Gone are the days of one dominant figure like Phil Taylor running the show for over a decade. “The difference is that the strength in depth now is completely night and day compared to what it was when Phil [Taylor] was my age," he explains.

One of Aspinall’s biggest frustrations is the relentless PDC schedule. He’s been vocal about the lack of downtime and the pressure that places on players trying to manage both form and wellbeing.

“Compared to even 10 years ago. The calendar is absolutely obscene," Aspinall comments. “For us to take a weekend off, I have to pull out events so I’m losing ranking money or whatever because I just need a few days off. And I’ve done that over the last couple of weeks because I was in a tight position in the Premier League, I really wanted to make the playoffs."

He believes the current pace of the tour is unsustainable long-term, particularly for players in their 30s. “I just think it’s too busy for people to have such longevity in the game. People like me that we’re early thirties, mid-thirties. I’ve said I do believe we are the last of a generation," he concludes. "Then afterwards it’s going to be all these kids coming through who are fearless. It will stop being called a pub game and it will finally be called a sport I reckon in about five or six years.”

According to stats from Darts Orakel, Aspinall has already earned over £2 million in career prize money. His biggest payday came with his 2023 World Matchplay triumph, where he pocketed £200,000. Just this past weekend, he added another £30,000 by winning the European Darts Open.