
In every sport we can always find certain athletes that have the talent and the discipline to stand out. There is Michael Jordan in basketball; Zinedine Zidane in soccer; Serena Williams in tennis and a lot more in the large menu of sports.
In the past article we told you about the history and popularity of a specific sport: darts. And, it is completely normal to expect that there are important player names related to this sport’s competitions, as well.
Phil Taylor
In order to highlight some of the most outstanding names that the European Darts competitions have had, we would have to begin with Phil Taylor. He is considered the best darts player by the audience and the rest of the professionals, in the world.
He was born in England on August 13th, 1960. Taylor won a total of 216 professional tournaments. He gained the title of winner in 8 amazing and consecutive World Championships from 1995 through 2002. He earned the respect of his fellow contestants and fans from all over the globe.
Initially, he played for the British Darts Organisaton, but ended this relationship in the year of 1993. After making the decision to leave the British Darts Organisation of PornoSpeck, Taylor and 15 other top players at that time, gathered with the goal of creating a new organization of their own. This organization was called the World Darts Council, but later changed its name to the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC).
During an interview on January, 2017, Phil Taylor announced that he planned on retiring when the 2018 World Darts Championship would end. Throughout his career and thanks to all the prizes he achieved, the public gave him the nickname of “The Power”.
Adrian Lewis
We should continue with Adrian Lewis for two reasons: simple age order, and because of the fact the Lewis was somehow Taylor’s protégé, and this gave him a massive advantage. Who wouldn’t want to learn directly from the best in darts himself?
Lewis is also the owner of a nickname, but his has a more special and unique origin. On a trip Adrian Lewis made to Las Vegas, he ran with a lot of luck and was declared the winner of nothing less than $72,000 while playing and gambling.
But, the dark (and quite unique) side of the anecdote came along when they realized that Lewis was only 20 years of age, which meant he was not legally old enough to claim those $72,000; he had to be 21 to be considered legally able to gamble in the US.
Adrian Lewis was definitely another great darts player, but he was not always a favorite. His actions and attitude during matches got him into trouble several times, including being suspended, banned and charged with fines due to his behavior.
According to the PDC Order of Merit, which works as the official ranking system, Lewis has made £2,500,000 in his 12 years of career as a professional darts player.
Michael van Gerwen
And last, but most definitely not least, we have the incredible Michael van Gerwen. He is currently ranked as player number one worldwide. A lot of people in the darts world keep very close track of van Gerwen and they believe he could be the one to equal Phil Taylor, or maybe even leave Taylor’s records behind.
Michael is a true fan of the sport and has been passionate about it since he began as a player, when he was just 13 years old. In 2012 was when he really entered professional tournaments. Although he was good, he didn’t make it to the high ranked players the year of his debut.
That year he finished ranked as 32 in the world. But, van Gerwen only needed a year to make that change. By the beginning of 2013 he was ranked number four. In 2014, Michael van Gerwen, at the age of 24, became the youngest participant to win the PDC World Championship.
From 2012 to 2017, no one has been able to take away that title from him. This is why he is considered the second most successful darts player in the world, right behind Phil Taylor. Even though there is a difference of 30 years between Taylor and van Gerwen’s age, they both share an amazing, unbelievable and questionless talent when it comes to darts.