Nathan Aspinall (born 15 July 1991) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently the World No. 12.
| Nathan Aspinall | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Aspinall at the 2024 World Grand Prix | |||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||
| Nickname | "The Asp" | ||||||||||
| Born | 15 July 1991 Stockport, England | ||||||||||
| Darts information | |||||||||||
| Darts | 26g Target Darts Signature Gen 2 | ||||||||||
| Laterality | Right-handed | ||||||||||
| Walk-on music | "Mr. Brightside" by the Killers with intro to “Charlemagne” by Blossoms | ||||||||||
| Organisation (see split in darts) | |||||||||||
| PDC | 2012– (Tour Card: 2015–2016, 2018–) | ||||||||||
| Current world ranking | 12  2 (24 November 2024)[1] | ||||||||||
| WDF major events – best performances | |||||||||||
| World Masters | Last 272: 2013 | ||||||||||
| PDC premier events – best performances | |||||||||||
| World Ch'ship | Semi Final: 2019, 2020 | ||||||||||
| World Matchplay | Winner (1): 2023 | ||||||||||
| World Grand Prix | Runner Up: 2022 | ||||||||||
| UK Open | Winner (1): 2019 | ||||||||||
| Grand Slam | Runner Up: 2022 | ||||||||||
| European Ch'ship | Semi Final: 2021 | ||||||||||
| Premier League | Runner Up: 2020 | ||||||||||
| PC Finals | Last 32: 2018, 2020, 2021, 2024 | ||||||||||
| Masters | Semi Final: 2020, 2024 | ||||||||||
| World Series Finals | Runner Up: 2023 | ||||||||||
| Other tournament wins | |||||||||||
Players Championships
World Series of Darts
PDC Home Tour
Challenge Tour
| |||||||||||
Nicknamed "The Asp", he has won 8 senior PDC titles, including the 2023 World Matchplay, the 2019 UK Open and 2019 US Darts Masters.
Early life
editAspinall played semi-professional football as a goalkeeper, having once been scouted by Manchester United's academy. He was offered a deal by Rangers but turned it down as his family did not want to move to Scotland. He played in Stockport County's academy until he was 15, joining Cheadle Town. He worked as a trainee accountant before quitting to become a professional darts player.[2]
Career
editAspinall began playing in PDC Development and Challenge Tour events in 2012. His first semi-final in those came in 2013, where he lost 4–2 to Max Hopp.[3] He won a two-year PDC Tour Card in 2015 through the Q School Order of Merit and qualified for the UK Open, where he beat Chris Dobey 5–1 and James Richardson 9–4, before losing 4–9 to James Wade in the fourth round.[4][5] Aspinall's first European Tour appearance was at the Dutch Darts Masters and he squeezed past Jamie Robinson and Vincent van der Voort both 6–5.[6] In the third round Justin Pipe eliminated him 6–4.[7] Aspinall won the seventh Development Tour event of 2015 with a 4–2 victory over Benito van de Pas.[8] He also lost in the final of two other events during the year.[9] Aspinall made his first televised appearance in the final of the 2015 PDC World Youth Championship, where he played the German Max Hopp. After 10 legs of holding throw, the final deciding leg was thrown by Aspinall, and despite having match darts, it was Hopp who won 6–5.[10]
While throwing a dart, Aspinall often stops to grip it differently. Commentators and others have suggested that this is due to dartitis. Michael van Gerwen indicated in 2022 that, during a match, he thought his opponent was suffering from this problem. Aspinall himself invariably denies during interviews that the hiccups have a mental cause.[11][12]
2016
editAspinall was beaten 6–5 by Stuart Kellett in the second round of the 2016 UK Open.[13] At the sixth Players Championship he reached his first quarter-final on the main tour and narrowly lost 6–5 against Vincent van der Voort.[14] Aspinall qualified for his first Grand Slam of Darts, but could not get a win out of his group fixtures with Raymond van Barneveld, Mensur Suljović and Danny Noppert to finish bottom of his group.[15]
2018
editAspinall won his first ranking PDC title in September 2018, beating Ryan Searle 6–4 in the final of Players Championship 18, in Barnsley.[16]
Aspinall made his Players Championship Finals debut at the 2018 edition as the 25th seed. He defeated 40th seed Martin Schindler 6–1 in the first round but lost to 8th seed James Wade 6–4 in the second round.
2019
editAt the 2019 World Championship, Aspinall made his debut as a ProTour Order of Merit qualifier. He was made a 500/1 outsider before the tournament.[17] In the first round he whitewashed Geert Nentjes 3–0 before defeating the 6th seed Gerwyn Price 3–2 in a deciding set in the second round.[18] Aspinall then defeated Kyle Anderson 4–1,[19] Devon Petersen 4–3[20] and Brendan Dolan 5–1[21] on his way to the semi-finals, where he lost to Michael Smith 6–3.
Following Gary Anderson's withdrawal from the 2019 Premier League, Aspinall was selected as one of nine 'contenders' to replace him. He played a one-off match against Michael Smith on night six in Nottingham, losing 7–2.
Aspinall won his first PDC major at the 2019 UK Open, defeating Toni Alcinas, Christian Kist, Madars Razma, Steve Lennon, Ross Smith and Gerwyn Price to reach the final, where he defeated Rob Cross 11–5 to take the title, winning the final leg with a 170 checkout.[22] The win took Aspinall into the top 16 of the PDC Order of Merit for the first time in his career.
Aspinall won his second televised title at the 2019 US Darts Masters, the first event on the 2019 World Series of Darts.[23] It was Aspinall's first World Series event, and the only one he was selected to compete in during the 2019 edition.[24] In the first round, he defeated Shawn Brenneman 6–2 before achieving wins over Rob Cross 8–5, and Peter Wright 8–7 in a last leg decider. Aspinall averaged 106.70 in the final, defeating Michael Smith 8-4. Aspinall received £20,000 in prize money for his victory.
He made his debut at the World Matchplay at the 2019 event. He was the first player to make his World Matchplay debut as a seed since Simon Whitlock in 2010. He lost to Mervyn King in the first round 10-5 despite averaging 103.
2020
editAt the 2020 World Championship Aspinall once again reached the semi-finals, beating Gary Anderson en route. He eventually fell to defending champion Michael van Gerwen.
2021
editAt the 2021 World Championship, Aspinall beat Scott Waites 3–2 in the second round before losing 4–2 in the third round to Vincent van der Voort.
2022
editAt the 2022 World Championship, Aspinall was whitewashed 4–0 in the third round by Callan Rydz.
At the World Grand Prix in October, Aspinall reached the final, where despite briefly rallying from 4–0 down, he finally succumbed 5–3 to Michael van Gerwen.
He also reached the final of the Grand Slam of Darts in November, losing 16–5 to Michael Smith, who won his first major title.
2023
editAt the 2023 World Championship, Aspinall lost 4–3 in the third round to Josh Rock.
In July he won a second televised major at the World Matchplay, defeating Jonny Clayton 18–6 in the final.[25]
2024
editAt the 2024 World Championship, Aspinall suffered a shock early exit, losing 3–0 in the second round to Ricky Evans.
At the 2024 UK Open Aspinall defeated Scott Mitchell 10–6 in the fourth round but lost 10–9 to Damon Heta in a deciding leg in the fifth round.
Prior to his appearance at the World Matchplay, Aspinall admitted that due to a tennis elbow-like injury, he would be taking a break following his title defence.[26]
Personal life
editAspinall is a supporter of Manchester United[27] and his local side Stockport County.[28]
World Championship results
editPDC
edit- 2019: Semi-finals (lost to Michael Smith 3–6)
- 2020: Semi-finals (lost to Michael van Gerwen 3–6)
- 2021: Third round (lost to Vincent van der Voort 2–4)
- 2022: Third round (lost to Callan Rydz 0–4)
- 2023: Third round (lost to Josh Rock 3–4)
- 2024: Second round (lost to Ricky Evans 0–3)
- 2025: Ongoing
Career finals
editPDC major finals: 6 (2 titles, 4 runners-up)
edit| Legend |
|---|
| World Matchplay (1–0) |
| Premier League (0–1) |
| UK Open (1–0) |
| World Grand Prix (0–1) |
| Grand Slam of Darts (0–1) |
| World Series of Darts Finals (0–1) |
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score[N 1] | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1. | 2019 | UK Open |  Rob Cross
|
11–5 (l) | [29] |
| Runner-up | 1. | 2020 | Premier League | Glen Durrant
|
8–11 (l) | |
| Runner-up | 2. | 2022 | World Grand Prix |  Michael van Gerwen
|
3–5 (s) | |
| Runner-up | 3. | 2022 | Grand Slam of Darts | Michael Smith
|
5–16 (l) | |
| Winner | 2. | 2023 | World Matchplay |  Jonny Clayton
|
18–6 (l) | |
| Runner-up | 4. | 2023 | World Series of Darts Finals | Michael van Gerwen
|
4–11 (l) |
- ^ (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.
PDC World Series finals: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
edit| Legend |
|---|
| World Series of Darts (1–1) |
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1. | 2019 | US Darts Masters | Michael Smith
|
8–4 (l) |
| Runner-up | 1. | 2023 | New Zealand Darts Masters | Rob Cross
|
7–8 (l) |
Performance timeline
edit| Tournament | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranked televised events | |||||||||||||||||
| PDC World Championship | DNP | Did not qualify | SF | SF | 3R | 3R | 3R | 2R | |||||||||
| UK Open | DNP | 4R | 2R | DNQ | 3R | W | 4R | 4R | 4R | QF | 5R | ||||||
| World Matchplay | DNP | Did not qualify | 1R | 1R | QF | QF | W | 2R | |||||||||
| World Grand Prix | DNP | Did not qualify | QF | 1R | 1R | F | 1R | 2R | |||||||||
| European Championship | DNP | DNQ | 1R | DNQ | 2R | 2R | SF | 1R | 2R | 1R | |||||||
| Grand Slam of Darts | DNP | DNQ | RR | DNQ | RR | QF | DNQ | F | 2R | DNQ | |||||||
| Players Championship Finals | DNP | Did not qualify | 2R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 1R | DNQ | 2R | ||||||||
| Non-ranked televised events | |||||||||||||||||
| The Masters | DNP | Did not qualify | SF | QF | WD | 1R | SF | ||||||||||
| Premier League Darts | Did not play | C | F | SF | DNP | 5th | 5th | ||||||||||
| World Series of Darts Finals | NH | Did not qualify | 1R | QF | 1R | DNP | F | WD | |||||||||
| PDC World Youth Championship | DNP | F | Did not play | ||||||||||||||
| BDO Ranked televised events | |||||||||||||||||
| Winmau World Masters | 1R | Not a BDO player | NH | PDC | |||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||
| Year-end ranking | - | - | 102 | 73 | 64 | 72 | 12 | 6 | 14 | 9 | 4 | ||||||
PDC European Tour
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | GDC DNQ |
GDT DNQ |
GDM DNQ |
DDM 3R |
IDO DNQ |
EDO 1R |
EDT DNP |
EDM DNP |
EDG DNQ | ||||
| 2016 | DDM DNQ |
GDM 1R |
GDT DNQ |
EDM DNQ |
ADO DNQ |
EDO DNQ |
IDO DNQ |
EDT DNQ |
EDG 2R |
GDC DNQ | |||
| 2017 | GDC DNQ |
GDM DNP |
GDO 2R |
EDG DNQ |
GDT DNQ |
EDM 2R |
ADO DNQ |
EDO 1R |
DDM 3R |
GDG 3R |
IDO DNQ |
EDT 2R | |
| 2018 | EDO DNQ |
GDG 1R |
GDO 1R |
ADO DNQ |
EDG DNQ |
DDM DNQ |
GDT DNQ |
DDO DNQ |
EDM DNQ |
GDC DNQ |
DDC DNQ |
IDO DNQ |
EDT DNQ |
| 2019 | EDO DNQ |
GDC 2R |
GDG DNQ |
GDO QF |
ADO 3R |
EDG QF |
DDM 1R |
DDO 2R |
CDO 2R |
ADC 2R |
EDM 2R |
IDO QF |
GDT SF |
| 2020 | BDC QF |
GDC 3R |
EDG QF |
IDO 3R | |||||||||
| 2021 | HDT 3R |
GDT SF | |||||||||||
| 2022 | IDO SF |
GDC DNP |
GDG DNP |
ADO SF |
EDO QF |
CDO 2R |
EDG DNQ |
DDC 2R |
EDM QF |
HDT SF |
GDO 2R |
BDO 3R |
GDT QF |
| 2023 | BSD 2R |
EDO DNQ |
IDO 3R |
GDG F |
ADO 3R |
DDC 3R |
BDO QF |
CDO QF |
EDG QF |
EDM QF |
GDO 3R |
HDT 2R |
GDC 2R |
| 2024 | BDO 1R |
GDG QF |
IDO 3R |
EDG WD |
ADO DNP |
BSD 1R |
DDC WD |
EDO WD |
GDC WD |
FDT WD |
HDT 2R |
SDT 3R |
CDO |
PDC Players Championships
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | WIG 4R |
WIG 3R |
LEI 1R |
LEI 2R |
HIL DNP |
HIL DNP |
LEI 3R |
LEI 2R |
HIL DNP |
HIL DNP |
HIL 3R |
HIL 3R |
MIL 2R |
MIL 4R |
MIL DNP |
MIL DNP |
MIL DNP |
MIL DNP |
MIL DNP |
WIG 1R |
WIG 1R |
MIL 2R |
MIL 3R |
WIG 2R |
WIG 1R |
WIG 2R |
WIG 2R |
WIG 1R |
LEI 3R |
LEI 1R |
| Performance Table Legend | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | Won the tournament | F | Finalist | SF | Semifinalist | QF | Quarterfinalist | #R RR Prel. |
Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round |
DQ | Disqualified |
| DNQ | Did not qualify | DNP | Did not participate | WD | Withdrew | NH | Tournament not held | NYF | Not yet founded | ||
References
edit- ^ "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 24 November 2024. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
- ^ Walters, Mike (10 December 2019). "Aspinall was bailed out by 1p bank transfer before fairytale Ally Pally run". The Mirror. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ "2013 PDC Challenge Tour England Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
- ^ "PDC Qualifying School Day Four". PDC. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
- ^ "2015 UK Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
- ^ "Dutch Darts Masters Day Two". PDC. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
- ^ "2015 PDC Dutch Darts Masters Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
- ^ "PDC Unicorn Development Tour 7-8". PDC. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
- ^ "Nathan Aspinall 2015". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 28 December 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
- ^ "World Youth Glory For Hopp". PDC. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
- ^ "Dokter Van Gerwen stelt diagnose bij Nathan Aspinall: 'Lijkt op darteritus'". Sportnieuws (in Dutch). 22 July 2022. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
- ^ "KIJK. Aspinall, tegenstander van 'Dancing Dimi', stelt dat aarzeling niets met psychische dartsziekte heeft te maken: "Het is gewoon een kwestie van grip"". Het Laatste Nieuws (in Dutch). 15 March 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
- ^ "2016 Coral UK Open Day One". PDC. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
- ^ "Payne Edges Out Wade For Maiden Title". PDC. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
- ^ "2016 Grand Slam Of Darts Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
- ^ "Nathan Aspinall wins Players Championship 18 in Barnsley". Sky Sports. 15 September 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
- ^ Phillips, Josh (28 November 2018). "Van Gerwen Favourite With William Hill". PDC. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
- ^ "Gerwyn Price beaten by Nathan Aspinall as PDC world darts shocks continue". The Guardian. 21 December 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
- ^ "Aspinall continues ground breaking run with victory over Anderson to move through to last 16". Dartsnews. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
- ^ "Aspinall verslaat Petersen in absolute kraker op WK Darts". Sportnieuws (in Dutch). Retrieved 30 December 2018.
- ^ Haigh, Phil (29 December 2018). "Nathan Aspinall bludgeons Brendan Dolan to make PDC World Championship semi-final on debut". Metro. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
- ^ Phillips, Josh (3 March 2019). "2019 Ladbrokes UK Open Finals Day". PDC. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
- ^ Allen, Dave (5 July 2024). "Dafabet US Darts Masters Glory For Aspinall". PDC. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
- ^ Haigh, Phil (6 July 2019). "Nathan Aspinall reacts to stunning US Darts Masters win on World Series debut". Metro. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
- ^ "Awesome Aspinall storms to Betfred World Matchplay title". www.pdc.tv. 24 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
- ^ "NATHAN ASPINALL LIKELY OUT UNTIL SEPTEMBER OR OCTOBER DEPENDENT ON WORLD MATCHPLAY RUN DUE TO 'TENNIS ELBOW' TYPE INJURY". dartsnews.com. 14 July 2024. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
- ^ Walters, Mike (15 May 2024). "Nathan Aspinall has Man Utd-related motivation ahead of key Premier League match". The Mirror. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
- ^ Stronge, Isaac Stacey (9 March 2024). "Meet Stockport County's celebrity supporters from best-selling band to darts stars". FootballLeagueWorld. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
- ^ Phillips, Josh. "2019 Ladbrokes UK Open Finals Day". PDC. Retrieved 3 March 2019.