COLUMN | Despite Littler dominance and a lack of shocks: Why the UK Open 2025 was a tournament for the history books

No sooner had Luke Littler lifted his UK Open aloft on Sunday evening than the first voices were raised among darts fans and experts that even the most unpredictable tournament on the PDC calendar had become predictable thanks to the 18-year-old's dominance. At first glance, one might tend to agree with this thesis. On the way to his UK Open triumph, Littler only really came under pressure in his first round match against Peter Wright and recorded the second-highest final win in the tournament's history.

But where there is a thesis, the antithesis is usually not far away: the UK Open is far too big and diverse a tournament to be judged on the basis of just one player and a few games. That's why we took a closer look at the "FA Cup of Darts" and show in this article why the UK Open 2025 was a tournament for the history books despite the dominance of the 18-year-old prodigy.

It didn't take long for the UK Open 2025 to get into full swing: Early on Friday afternoon, Niko Springer produced the second-highest average in tournament history in his duel against Cor Dekker. With 115.92 points, he moved into second place in the all-time ranking behind Phil Taylor, who had set the previous record of 118.66 points in his four-round win over Kevin Painter in 2010.

Springer then beat Dutchman Patrick Geeraets 6-5 in the second round, but lost 5-6 to Ireland's Dylan Slevin in round three. Nevertheless, the 24-year-old once again proved why he is one of the hottest prospects on the PDC circuit. Springer, who recently qualified for the European Tour tournament in Riesa with an average of over 113 points, seems to be gaining more and more ground on the professional tour in his first year as a PDC Tour Card holder.

From record averages to personal lows - the UK Open 2025 had it all on offer. While Niko Springer immortalized himself in the UK Open history books early in the tournament, defending champion Dimitri Van den Bergh played his worst average in over ten years as a PDC Tour Card holder in his round of 16 duel against Michael Smith.

Van den Bergh thus remains one of the biggest enigmas of the PDC circuit. After years of searching for himself, in which the 30-year-old Belgian seemed to lose himself in constant rhythm changes and mental gestures, Van den Bergh returned to the PDC stage at the beginning of the year with a refreshing new approach: The Dreammaker not only left his walk-on song and repetitive dance moves behind in the old year, but has also appeared to be back in tune with himself and his game on the dartboard since the start of the new season.

With a semi-final in the Winmau World Masters and strong performances against Gary Anderson and Nathan Aspinall, Van den Bergh made a perfect start to the new season. He also won the UK Open relatively comfortably against Raymond van Barneveld and then impressed in particular in his 10-9 comeback win over Chris Dobey. In the end, however, his bizarre performance against Michael Smith was the most memorable - a one-off slip-up or the start of a serious crisis? In the coming weeks and months, it will be exciting to see in which direction the Belgian's career will develop.

In addition to the sporting headlines, the UK Open 2025 also provided plenty to talk about away from the dartboard: one of the most talked-about scenes of the weekend took place on Friday evening when another draw was made after the end of the 4th round. John McDonald and Alan Warriner-Little were assisted by ITV presenter Ned Boulting to determine the matches for the 5th round.

When Boulting drew his first ball from the pot and drew the tie between Ryan Searle and Luke Humphries, the experienced presenter made a rookie mistake: Boulting did not place the ball with the number 23 on the table as intended, but threw it back into the pot. Curiously, the trio decided to continue the procedure as normal. Even crazier is the fact that the Humphries ball was not drawn a second time during the draw of all the other games and was the last ball left in the draw pot towards the end of the process.

A curious scene away from the actual action made the biggest headlines - apart from Niko Springer: In his match against Jonny Clayton, Martin Schindler was the victim of an extraordinary bounce-out.

While Schindler was warming up with the usual practice darts after a break in play, one of his darts bounced off the board and sailed straight back to the sender. The 28-year-old ultimately had to remove the dart from his own shoe, which not only led to a viral clip on social media, but also to loud laughter among the fans in Minehead.

Enough of the Minehead stories - back to the sport: World number one Luke Humphries achieved a rare feat last weekend: his 10-0 whitewash against Ryan Searle in round five was the first 10-0 win at the UK Open since 2016, when Jelle Klaasen gave Australian Kyle Anderson no chance. It was only the fourth time in UK Open history that this result has been achieved.

Humphries, who followed up his 10-0 win over Searle with a dominant 10-2 victory over Ryan Joyce, was finally stopped in the quarter-finals by The Machine James Wade. In English, the tournament weekend of the UK Open record holder Wade would probably be described with the word "box office". From a lick to injury worries in the final to ice-cold checkouts - a look back at a weekend in which James Wade reminded the darts world that the professional circuit would be a worse place without the 41-year-old.

No player is as much a part of the UK Open inventory as James Wade, the only player to take part in every edition of the FA Cup of Darts. Last weekend, in typical Wade fashion, The Machine attracted attention for a number of reasons. In sporting terms, Wade became only the second player after Phil Taylor to break the 50-win barrier at the UK Open. By reaching the final, Wade also reached the final of a PDC Major for the first time since the European Championship in October 2023. As a result, he moved up two places in the Order of Merit and regained his place in the top 10 in 12th place.

As already mentioned, the three-time UK Open champion also made a name for himself off the oche. Wade's behavior in the quarter-final duel with Luke Humphries was the most controversial when he licked the world number one's neck in greeting. Humphries later expressed his displeasure at his opponent's behavior in a now-deleted post on X (formerly Twitter): "I didn't want to hug someone who didn't deserve my respect after what he did during the match - that's just me being honest."

James Wade also knew how to draw attention to himself in the final legs of the UK Open. Although The Machine was mercilessly outclassed in the final against Luke Littler and was in danger of going down to zero until his first double in the tenth leg, he enjoyed the full attention of the crowd. After the first break of the match James Wade returned to the stage limping and with a pained face. When he injured his hand while pulling out a dart, the James Wade Show was in full swing. Between sporting brilliance and typical Wade mannerisms: the UK Open 2025 exemplified the complete James Wade package.

James Wade was not only dominated by Luke Littler in the final of the UK Open 2025, but also dethroned as the youngest winner of the tournament. As the record for youngest ever UK Open champion still belonged to the 25-year-old Wade from 2008, it was to be expected that Littler would break this record in the next few years. However, the manner in which he broke the 17-year-old record was extraordinary.

Littler beat Peter Wright (10-9), Jermaine Wattimena (10-4), Krzysztof Ratajski (10-8), Gian van Veen (10-4), Jonny Clayton (10-6) and James Wade (11-2) on his way to the UK Open title. The 18-year-old played a tournament average of 104.39 points, with his highest average of 108.69 points in his first round duel against Wright. Littler's 11-2 win over James Wade was also the second-highest final win in UK Open history in the best-of-21 legs format - only Adrian Lewis achieved a clearer triumph in 2014 with his 11-1 win over Terry Jenkins. Littler also broke the record for the most 180s ever scored in a UK Open campaign. This record was previously held by Michael Smith with 40 180s - Littler scored 47 perfect scores last weekend.

In conclusion, it can be said that the UK Open 2025 offered far more than just a sporting dominator - it provided entertainment in a class of its own. While Luke Littler made history with his outstanding performance, James Wade once again provided a talking point with his idiosyncrasies. But that is exactly what makes darts so unique: it is full of characters that bring every stage to life. A tournament without drama, emotion and unforgettable moments? That would be a much greater challenge in this sport.