Cameron Menzies Speaks for the First Time Since Hand Injury in Heartbreaking Interview
Cameron Menzies has broken his silence on the full extent of the damage he inflicted on himself during his infamous table-punching outburst at the World Darts Championship in December, revealing in a raw and emotional post-match interview that he has lost feeling in his fingers, came close to quitting the sport entirely, and nearly did not make the trip to Kraków for this weekend’s Poland Darts Open.
Speaking to Oche 180 following a 6-4 first-round victory over Ritchie Edhouse — his first competitive match since the Alexandra Palace incident — the 36-year-old Scot showed the camera the scar on his hand and did not hold back about the physical and mental toll of the past two months.
“It was finally good to play well but I’ve been struggling massively,” Menzies said. “I’ll be honest with you, a few times I’ve felt like wrapping it. I’m just not in a good place that way. Obviously what happened at the Worlds, I’ve done a lot of damage to myself. Basically I’ve no feeling in my fingers anymore because of the damage I’ve done. I couldn’t feel my fingers for six weeks. I had to go through surgery. I’ve still to go through hand treatment and trauma.”
The incident that prompted all of this came in the immediate aftermath of a shock first-round defeat to debutant Charlie Manby at Alexandra Palace. Menzies, already visibly distressed before the match was over, repeatedly punched the underside of a drinks table in frustration, leaving blood pouring from his hand as he walked off stage. Referee Kirk Bevans intervened to ask him to calm down, and Menzies held his injured hand up toward the crowd in what appeared to be an instinctive gesture of apology. He was taken to hospital that night.
Shortly after, he issued a public statement acknowledging the outburst and referencing the grief he had been carrying following his uncle’s death. “I am sorry that I reacted in the manner that I did,” he said at the time. “It’s not an excuse, but I have had a lot of things on my mind recently and I suppose it all just became too much at the end.” It would be two months before he played another competitive match.
What emerged in Friday’s interview was just how serious the medical consequences were. Menzies revealed that surgeons told him the injuries could have been far worse — there were fears that nerves and tendons may have been severed. “They said when they operated on me that I was lucky that I hadn’t severed any nerves or tendons, I’d just battered and bruised them,” he said. “At the moment I have no feeling in one side of my finger and the other, but I hold the dart the other side so I am kind of lucky. No words can explain what I felt at that time. Waking up with a breathing tube — for a game of darts. I was stupid and I have to deal with that.”
The psychological weight of the incident has been just as significant as the physical recovery. Menzies admitted he was on the verge of walking away from professional darts altogether, and came perilously close to not even boarding the plane to Poland. “Honestly, I was so close to pulling out this weekend,” he said. “I’m just not enjoying it at the moment.” His averages in recent months have rarely climbed above 75, a reflection of a man trying to rediscover his game while still in the middle of his recovery and still processing a period of acute personal grief.
Yet he pressed on, showed up in Kraków, and produced a performance — including nine maximum 180s — that gave him something to hold onto. “It was good to go and play well. It was good to win again because it’s been a tough year. That today has given me a bit of love back again,” he said.
On the lasting mark the incident has left, Menzies was unflinching. “I’ve made a massive mistake in my life. You can see the scar. I have to live with that. I have to live with the reputation of being the table-puncher. I’m not proud of it. We all make mistakes. Unfortunately, I made a big mistake and have to accept it.” Surgeons have told him that sensation should gradually return to his fingers with further treatment, but the scar — in every sense of the word — is permanent.
He now faces James Wade in the second round on Saturday as he continues what is, in its own quiet way, one of the most remarkable comeback stories in the sport this year.
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