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English darts player (born 1991) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nathan Aspinall (born 15 July 1991) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked No. 12 in the world.
| 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 | 14  7 (17 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 | ||||||||||
| 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.
Aspinall 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]
Aspinall 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]
Aspinall 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]
Aspinall won his first ranking PDC title in September 2018, beating Ryan Searle 6–4 in the final of the 18th Players Championship of the year, in Barnsley.[16] This victory helped him qualify for his first world championship.
At the 2019 World Championship, Aspinall, a 500/1 outsider before the tournament,[17] defeated world number six Gerwyn Price,[18] Kyle Anderson,[19] Devon Petersen[20] and Brendan Dolan[21] on his way to the semi-finals, where he lost 6–3 to Michael Smith.
Following Gary Anderson's withdrawal from the 2019 Premier League, Aspinall was selected as one of nine 'contenders' to replace him. He would play a one-off match against Michael Smith on night six in Nottingham.
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, securing 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 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] Aspinall averaged 107 in defeating Michael Smith 8-4 in the final. In the previous rounds, he beat Shawn Brenneman, Rob Cross, and Peter Wright. Aspinall won £20,000, and the win was only his second televised tournament win, after the 2019 UK Open.
He played in the 2019 World Matchplay for the first time, losing to Mervyn King 10-5 despite averaging 103, and he was also seeded, made him the first player to make his World Matchplay debut as a seed since Simon Whitlock in 2010.
At 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.
At 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.
At 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.
At 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]
At 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]
Aspinall is a supporter of Manchester United[27] and his local side Stockport County.[28]
| 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) |
| 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) |
| 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 | |||||||||
| 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
| 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 | ||
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