Nathan Aspinall has hit out at online abusers who targeted him and his loved ones following his World Grand Prix semi-final defeat, while also reflecting positively on his run in Leicester. The Englishman fell at the semi-final stage on Saturday night, with Gerwyn Price proving too strong in a 5-2 win. Aspinall struggled throughout the match and showed his frustration several times, with an expletive aimed at the board clearly audible during the TV broadcast. It is not yet clear whether Aspinall will receive a sanction for that.
A day later, Aspinall took to Instagram to look back on his week, stressing that his below-par display in the semi-final does not define how he feels about the tournament as a whole. "So on reflection very happy with how the tournament went last week," said Aspinall. "Had one of my best ever performances on a stage on Friday even though followed it with one of my worst on Saturday, but that is darts." He added: "So many positives to take and very happy to make another major semi final."
The semi-final run gives Aspinall confidence for the rest of the season, though he will now put his darts down for a short spell. "Couple of weeks of now with the family before we go again," he said. He also offered congratulations to Luke Humphries, who won the World Grand Prix by overturning a 3-0 deficit against Price to take a 6-4 victory in the final. "Well done @lukehumphries180 on winning the Grand Prix."
Aspinall then ended his message on a sharper note, revealing that he and people close to him were subjected to insults after his semi-final. "And finally to all them muppets that have abused me, my family and people close to us over the last 24 hours," Aspinall wrote, before signing off his message with a middle-finger emoji.
