Josh Rock breezed past Chris Dobey in a 6-1 win to reach the second round of the European Championship, where he will now face Jonny Clayton. After the match, Rock spoke to the media, including DartsNews, about ending his long wait for a win at the European Championship.
"You try so hard on the European Tour every single year and obviously my first year here was my first TV appearance, when I played Nathan and I won, and I haven't won a game since," Rock said. "And I'm like, 'Oh my God.' I went out there to put a performance out and I did, so I'm very happy with the performance."
Rock admitted that his poor record in the tournament had been in the back of his mind. "As I said, we try our best to be here because it's the European Championship Finals, and every time I've had a good season, I've then failed in the first round," he said. "So, in the back of my mind, I was like, just wake up and you know what you need to do. I've done that tonight, so I'm happy with this."
Asked whether Dobey was there to be shot at early doors due to poor form, Rock said it wasn't really on his mind as he hasn't had a great time of it on the oche anyway. "Well, after the first leg, when I missed the two darts at double, obviously going up, I was like, 'Déjà vu, here we go.' He missed tops, missed ten, had a double five last hour. That's what Chris usually does against me, so I just had to dig deep, and I dug deep and got the scoring power, got the finishing going, and happy days."
Rock getting back into peak form will be the next tick off the list, and asked if he thinks he is peaking at the right time, he isn't sure. But one thing is for sure, the love of the game has returned. "I don't know. As I said to you a month and a half ago, I wasn't enjoying it, and now I'm back loving the game and practising a lot more than I have in probably the last year and a half, two years, if I'm being honest. I've just fallen in love with the game again, and I'm here to win."
"That's a question I can't answer. I don't know. Professionals go through different times in this sport, and I'd probably say after the Matchplay I wasn't enjoying it. Then, for some reason, I had a big, massive two-and-a-half-week break, three-week break, and the next minute I'm just back loving it again. Maybe that break just helped me, just to get my mental state back together, family, everything. You know, we're on the road 24/7. I've got two young kids and a wife at home who miss me when I'm away as well, so I want to try and be there as much as I can for them too, because they're more important than darts. It's probably my own fault I've turned off, but as I said, I wasn't enjoying it and now I'm loving it again. So that's the main thing."
Rock also hit back at the notion that he hasn't had a great few weeks and said that he has been playing well all year on the big stage and the game has always been there. "I've been playing well all year on the big stage, regardless, apart from the Premier League, and every major I've been playing well. So, you know, my game's there, it's always going to be there. It's just whatever Josh Rock turns up on the night."
Asked if his confidence has taken a dent as he hasn't been getting the results, Rock responded: "Not one bit, not one bit. It's up to you; it depends how strong your mindset is, and I've got a strong mindset and I know that for myself, so thanks to that." He also quipped that the Premier League was 'not dangerous in my career'.
