Josh Rock is confident he can be among the absolute best in the world over the coming years, along with Luke Littler. 'Rocky' was considered the greatest up and coming talents in the sport in 2022, but he has since had to hand over that status to his Target Darts stablemate.
Littler won his first PDC World Darts Championship title at Alexandra Palace earlier this month at the age of 17, having made it to the final a year previously on his World Darts Championship, losing to Luke Humphries. Rock, now 23, was tipped as the sport's next big star when he became youth world champion at the PDC in 2022. The man from County Antrim also won a number of Players Championship events, and in 2024 celebrated the highlight of his career so far by winning the Dutch Darts Championship on the European Tour.
"I had a solid 2024 but honestly I think 2025 is going to be my year," Rock tells BBC Sport ahead of this week's Winmau World Masters in Milton Keynes. "It is fantastic for the sport - Luke winning the Worlds at such a young age shows it is a young man's sport now."
Rock himself has yet to loosen up at the major television tournaments. His best result is a quarterfinal place at the Grand Slam of Darts in 2023. "My game is there to challenge, it always has been, it just has to come out when it needs to," he explains. "I 100 per cent believe it. There is six years between me and Luke. We can have a very long career, and I believe that me and him will dominate the sport."
Rock will face Jermaine Wattimena on Thursday night in the opening round of the Winmau World Masters, which is now under the PDC banner for the first time. If he wins, a meeting with world number one Luke Humphries or Joe Cullen awaits in the second round.
Northern Ireland's Josh Rock has said that he believes he can challenge Luke Littler's potential dominance of professional darts in the future🎯🔜#BBCDarts pic.twitter.com/PAsNkGDMii
— BBC SPORT NI (@BBCSPORTNI) January 29, 2025