Who Will Win The World Darts Grand Prix?
This week sees one of the most exciting and difficult to predict darts tournaments of the year taking place. The World Grand Prix, which is taking place this year at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester, is the biggest double-start, double-finish tournament in the world game.
Outside of the World Championship, Premier League, World Matchplay, the Grand Slam of Darts and the UK Open, it is one of the ‘big six’ events in the professional darts calendar year.
Let’s now learn a little more about this iconic tournament with a look at its history and then a preview of this week’s action from Leicester.
World Darts Grand Prix – A History
Founded in 1998 and most memorably held in Dublin in October from 2001 to 2021, this Sets-based tournament has always featured the unusual double-start, double-finish rule. Which means that a player must hit any double, or the bullseye in a game before any of the points they score with their darts count. They must also then finish the game by hitting a double in the traditional way.
This small change means that the advantage for throwing first in a match can be watered down, especially if a player has trouble hitting the first double.
Phil Taylor won a record 11 World Grand Prix, five more than Michael van Gerwen who has won six. James Wade has won two and after that eight players have won the title once. Gerwyn Price, Colin Lloyd, Alan Warriner, Luke Humphries, Daryl Gurney, Robert Thornton, Jonny Clayton and last year’s winner, Mike De Decker.
Given the double-start format, nine-dart finishes are rare in the tournament. There have been three achieved in its history, the first by Brendan Dolan in 2011, the second by James Wade in 2014 and the third by Robert Thornton in 2014. The last two nine-darters were completed in the same game when Wade faced Thornton in the second round in 2014.
World Darts Grand Prix 2025 – Who Are The Players to Watch?
Current World Champion, Luke Littler is the 3.00 favourite to win the tournament ahead of Luke Humphries at 6.50. Josh Rock, Gerwyn Price and Michael van Gerwen are all 11.00 chances, with Stephen Bunting’s good form seeing him at 15.00.
Gary Anderson and Gian van Veen are both 26.00 with James Wade and Johnny Clayton 29.00 and Chris Dobey, Nathan Aspinall and Wessel Nijman all 34.00.
Last year’s champion Mike De Decker is a 41.00 shot along with Rob Cross and Ross Smith.
First Round Draw
The draw for the first round has been made and produced the following matches.
- Rob Cross v Wessel Nijman
- Martin Schindler v Krzysztof Ratajski
- Chris Dobey v Cameron Menzies
- James Wade v Joe Cullen
- Danny Noppert v Jermaine Wattamena
- Luke Humphries v Nathan Aspinall
- Gary Anderson v Raymond van Barneveld
- Stephen Bunting v Niko Springer
- Damon Heta v Luke Woodhouse
- Ross Smith v Daryl Gurney
- Jonny Clayton v Andrew Gilding
- Gerwyn Price v Ryan Searle
- Luke Littler v Gian van Veen
- Michael van Gerwen v Dirk van Duijvenbode
- Peter Wright v Mike De Decker
- Josh Rock v Ryan Joyce.
The action begins on Monday 6th October and progresses through to the weekend with the semi-finals played on Saturday and the final on Sunday.
Our Pick
Traditionally, this is a tough tournament to pick a winner but while Luke Littler is the smart money for the win bet, backing Stephen Bunting or Michael van Gerwen each way to reach the final is another good option.
