Florian Hempel fights to keep his PDC Tour Card: ''The motto is 'practice hard, just go out and play darts'"

Florian Hempel made the switch from handball to darts in 2017. He captured a Tour Card in 2021, and the darter from Cologne is in danger of losing this Tour Card after this season.

Hempel has not yet qualified for the major tournaments this season. He has one more chance via the qualifying tournament for Tour Card holders to secure placement for the World Darts Championship. The arrows are now fully focused on that, he said in an interview with Flashscore.

"Preparation is in full swing, I spend 5-6 hours on the board every day and try to prepare intensively. I take every small tournament with me to stay in shape. Of course, that's difficult when you don't have a real benchmark, for three and a half weeks, from the last Players Championship, to the qualifiers," Hempel pointed out, noting that he hasn't been able to throw a PDC tournament since the last Players Championship tournament in early November.

"You don't really know where you stand because there are no pro tournaments, whereas I'm not qualified for the Grand Slam or the Players Championship Finals. So the motto is 'practice hard, just go out and play darts'."

In the Tour Card race, Hempel is currently in 69th place. The German needs to get into the top-64 to be sure of a spot on the Pro Tour next year as well. To do so, Hempel will have to qualify for the World Darts Championship and win at least one more match there.

This tricky task, he says, does not create extra pressure. "Pressure? It is what it is. Of course, I didn't choose the situation (laughs) and would wish it to be different. But there's no point in thinking about it too much, I accept the situation as it is and will give it my all. A few players before me have already saved their tour card via the qualifier, why shouldn't I be able to do the same?"

The qualifying tournament on Nov. 27 in Barnsley allows Tour Card holders who have not yet secured a starting spot for the prestigious tournament at Alexandra Palace.

"There is no opponent I don't want to play against. The guys who are there can all play darts. Of course, it would be nice if all three Germans who are in the qualifier could also go to the World Championship - that would make me personally very happy."

Currently, four Germans are already certain to participate in the World Darts Championship. Martin Schindler and Gabriel Clemens qualified via the world rankings, while Ricardo Pietreczko finished high on the Pro Tour rankings. Dragutin Horvat qualified via his final victory in the PDC Europe Super League. Hempel is proud that Germany has at least four participants at the World Darts Championship.

"Of course, you first have to see who else is travelling to the World Championship. But the Germans have shown that they can play darts. Martin (Schindler) played a great European Tour, Gaga(Gabriel Clemens) was in the semi-finals last year, Ricardo (Pietreczko) shone with a title and Dragutin (Horvat) also played a great Challenge Tour season. So why should they suddenly get stuck at the World Championships? The boys definitely have a lot to be proud of, especially for German darts. It's the tournament that gets the most attention, has the most spectators, and I'm sure the boys will be busy racking up results."

Should Hempel fail to retain his Tour Card, he already knows what he will do in 2024. "There are plans and thoughts for next year - what could happen and what would happen in which case. There are also discussions with the sponsors, although I am lucky that my partners, thank goodness, stand by me, even in difficult sporting times. That again shows how important it is to have a basis of trust, I'm extremely happy about that and I'm looking forward to the future. And, of course, if the tour card is gone at the end of the year, Q School is coming up, so there's only one goal - to get the tour card back."