"A confident Nathan Aspinall is a dangerous one, and I've never been this confident" - 'The Asp' sends warning ahead of 2025 World Matchplay

After a turbulent spell battling injuries and a bout of dartitis, Nathan Aspinall is well and truly back among the elite. The 33-year-old Englishman has reminded the darts world of his resilience — and of his class — with a strong first half to 2025.

Aspinall, affectionately known as The Asp, has already picked up two titles on the European Tour this year, lifting the European Darts Trophy and the European Darts Open. He also came up just short in two further finals — once on the Players Championship circuit and once more on the European Tour.

His form has been consistent across formats, with a deep run in the Premier League play-offs, where he reached the semi-finals before falling 10–7 to eventual champion Luke Humphries.

Last week, Aspinall was back in action at an exhibition event in Cardiff, where he took on two-time world champion Adrian Lewis. Reflecting on the match, Aspinall told Polly James for MODUS: "Everyone knows Ade is my idol. He's not had a bad career has he?" Aspinall laughed. "Great to see him playing again."

With half the season gone, Aspinall is satisfied with his progress so far. "Yeah, I'm doing something right this year," he assesses. "It has to be good though. I'm defending the Matchplay this July, so I had to have a big start to the year."

"Potentially, I could have fell out of the Top-32, but with what I've don't for the first half of this year, the lowest I could go to is 20/21," he continues. "But that's only if I get forst round at the Matchplay and that isn't going to happen.

Aspinall’s struggles with injuries and dartitis have been well-documented, but now he’s finally enjoying both his darts and his life off the oche again. "My confidence is up, I'm dead happy and I'm just looking forward to playing darts," Aspinall concludes. "I don't wanna go all like Peter Wright and say I'm gonna win this and win that, but they all know how dangerous I am. A confident Nathan Aspinall is a dangerous one, and I've never been this confident."