Stephen Bunting has spoken out after losing 6-0 to Luke Littler on week eight of the Premier League - extending his winless streak in this year's tournament.
Bunting is yet to win a game in the 2025 Premier League, despite strong performances in other tournaments and at the World Championship in recent months.
'The Bullet' was whitewashed by Littler at the quarter-final stage in Newcastle, ensuring he remained at the bottom of the Premier League table.
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Bunting's defeat, though, was more down to his opponent's brilliance than his own performance.
The 2014 BDO champion averaged 102, though did miss all four of his attempts at double.
The fact that he only got four attempts was due to Littler averaging 109, hitting five 180s and achieving success in 50 per cent of his attempts at double.
Bunting also averaged 102 in his 6-4 defeat to Gerwyn Price two weeks ago - an indication that his recent performances perhaps haven't been reflected in the points table.
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The Liverpool man is one of the most popular players on the circuit, and he has now broken his silence on the Littler defeat by responding to positive messages from two fans on Twitter.
In one, he wrote: "Thank you, much appreciated. I stay away from the negative comments as I know they are there.
"I'm proud to be part of the Premier League, I'm proud of how far I've come since the times when I was thinking of quitting, and to be on the verge of moving to number four in the world is amazing.
"I'll never give up and I'll always try 110 per cent to achieve my goals."
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And in a separate reply, he added: "Really appreciate you reaching out. I'm good. Feel great and have a great family, team, management and sponsors behind me. And the fans are amazing. I'll keep giving my all."
When Bunting entered the PDC in 2014 off the back of winning the BDO title, he displayed strong form in his first few years on the tour and even earned a famous - and much-replayed - endorsement from Raymond van Barneveld.
By 2017, however, he had started to fall down the rankings, and lost at the first hurdle in three consecutive World Championships up to 2019.
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Speaking to Wayne Mardle's Club 501 last year, Bunting revealed that he almost quit darts entirely around that time - and credited a sports psychologist for helping him to become one of the top players in the world again.
He said: "I was walking into venues feeling like people were laughing at me, and I just didn't want to be there anymore. My form was so bad and I was going home and taking it out on my family.
"I needed to do something. I went to see a sports psychologist, and he trained my brain to think about the positives, because every time I was playing darts it was all negative.
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"That was a massive help. I have progressed since then, and I'm now seeing a hypnotherapist as well which is really helping and it's taken my game to another level."
Topics: Darts, Premier League, Luke Littler
Ryan Smart