"He won't win it, but he'll have a run..." - Wayne Mardle puts forward a surprising name as World Darts Championship dark horse
PDC
Wayne Mardle has offered his thoughts on several of the current developments in the world of darts. Speaking to Tungsten Tales during the World Grand Prix in Leicester, the former professional darts player discussed Luke Littler's recent defeats, the increasingly packed darts calendar, the importance of social media for players and his surprise 'dark horse' ahead of the World Darts Championship.
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Littler was naturally one of the main talking points. The young Englishman was surprisingly eliminated in the first round of the World Grand Prix by Luke Woodhouse. However, Mardle believes there is no reason to draw any major conclusions from the defeat.
"What he's been doing has been ridiculous. Losing shouldn't seem ridiculous, but it's gone all the other way, hasn't it? As in, he gets beat and the world kind of stops and everything thinks that it's been flipped on its head, but he's going to lose."
Mardle believes the reaction says more about the extraordinary performances Littler has produced than anything else.
"The amount he's been winning has been incredible, so losing, I think it was just going to come. I'm not saying that I expected him to lose, because I did not."
However, Mardle did identify something that Littler himself might be less satisfied with.
"From my point of view for him, it's the way he's lost. He didn't play well at all against Luke Woodhouse. Luke himself said that it was one of those scrappy games, so from my point of view, he'll be slightly bothered by the performances."
Mardle surprised by Littler's decision
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Mardle was particularly surprised that Littler subsequently entered the PDC World Youth Championship. The Englishman has regularly spoken about wanting to manage his schedule carefully and conserve his energy.
Mardle acknowledged that there could be a logical explanation for the decision, but admitted he had not expected Littler to enter the tournament.
"The thing with Luke is that he's made it known that he wants time off. So actually playing when he doesn't need to play, I just thought was a bit peculiar, but he knows himself better than I do."
Beau Greaves' decision to skip the World Youth Championship was also discussed. According to Mardle, her situation has changed in recent times as she continues to compete more regularly against a wider range of opponents.
"She's playing, I'm not going to say more than ever, but she's playing more competitive darts than ever and that's no disrespect to the women's series. Winning's not that easy for her anymore, even though she still wins because she's magnificent."
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Mardle believes more and more top players are trying to find the right balance between competing regularly and avoiding burnout.
"I don't want to overplay, but I want to play enough. I want to feel like I'm doing it right and I think for her, that's just the way it is."
Littler lost in the semi-finals of the World Youth.
Rankings blackmail coined
According to Mardle, the dilemma is inseparable from the sheer number of tournaments on the modern darts calendar. Whereas players previously competed in virtually every available event, the leading professionals now have to make more decisions about which tournaments to enter.
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Mardle introduced a striking term to describe the pressure players face: 'rankings blackmail'. "Because everyone is facing this rankings blackmail and I call it blackmail because everyone wants to qualify for certain events, whether it be the Premier League or want to be top four."
That means there is almost always something at stake for players across the rankings. "So those that are not top four, that are five, six, seven, eight, want to make sure they're in that for the Premier League and those that are outside that want to be in it for the World Grand Prix or the World Series. There's always this rankings blackmail going on."
For that reason, Mardle does not believe it is necessarily wise to map out an entire season in advance and decide from the outset which tournaments to skip. Circumstances can change throughout the year.
"And I think to set out your year and say, I'm doing this is probably wrong because you may qualify for everything with ease and then you're playing just for the sake of playing."
Instead, Mardle stressed the importance of maintaining competitive sharpness and ensuring players do not spend too long away from the oche. "But what I do believe, and everyone's different, you've got to keep your arm ticking over and you've got to keep it ticking over competitively, keep that mind focused."
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He also cited Gerwyn Price's approach as an example of why regular competition matters. "And once you do have a month off and Gerwyn Price says this a lot, I need to play to get that competitive edge back. And he says that edge back because it can go. It really can go."
Mardle names his World Championship dark horse
With the World Darts Championship approaching, Mardle was asked to name his dark horse for the tournament at Alexandra Palace. The former professional believes the term has become more difficult to define in the modern era.
"A dark horse used to be one of those players that the people didn't, let's say the people, the public didn't really know much about. And it's one of those, an outsider, oh, I didn't know about that."
Mardle recalled Tony David as an example from the past, explaining that the Australian was relatively unknown to much of the public before making his mark at the World Championship.
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"I'm going back for, I don't know how long now, 20, 2002, 2001, maybe, hardly anyone had heard of him. I'd seen him play and it's like, this guy can win. That's a dark horse."
However, Mardle believes the rise of social media has made it much harder for players to fly under the radar.
"But these people don't exist anymore. Everyone knows about everyone. Social media has made the world this big and it really is this big."
Krzysztof Ratajski hitting the heights?
Nevertheless, he eventually settled on one name: Krzysztof Ratajski. "Someone who always plays well is a dark horse because no one ever mentions him. He won't win it, but he'll have a run because he's world class and he's never a name that rolls off the tongue."
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Mardle has long been impressed by the Polish player's ability to trouble the biggest names in the sport. "Whenever he plays a big hitter, we always say they could come unstuck here. And I like the way he plays. He seems to have composure, but then it can go, which is why he loses."
He continued: "Krzysztof Ratajski. I think Ratajski is a brilliant player. He's a brilliant player, but doesn't win or he gets into the latter stages. Maybe a quarterfinal sneaks a semi every now and again, but doesn't win big guns. Doesn't even make finals of majors, but he can hurt anyone."
Mardle's verdict was clear: "He is my dark horse."
James Wade sets an example for other darts players
The use of social media by professional darts players was another major topic of discussion. According to Mardle, players can benefit enormously from the opportunity to show a different side of themselves away from the oche. He believes James Wade is a particularly good example.
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"James Wade has never been interested in promoting himself. And this isn't disrespectful towards James, he's never been interested in promoting darts per se, promoting himself, doing anything he doesn't need to do, because he's a family man, he wants to spend time with family rather than, I'm not going to say waste time, but rather than use his time doing anything on social media."
However, Mardle believes Wade has started to embrace the opportunities available to him through his social media accounts.
"Now he's got these accounts and he's showing his true self, he's showing the perception of James on the board, he's not, yes he comes across as he does on the oche, but he's not actually like that, he's a more friendly guy than that, and he's trying to bring that across."
Mardle praised the approach Wade has taken, particularly its simplicity and authenticity.
"Whoever's advised him to do what he's doing, I think they're advising him well, and in my opinion, he's using it really well. He's not doing content that's outlandish, it's just him, so it's very doable."
He added that players do not necessarily need to invest huge amounts of time and effort into producing content to benefit from social media.
"He can film himself walking down a corridor, and he can kind of say and do what he likes, but it's not that time consuming for him, it's not that draining, he's not using so much energy setting things up, it's just, it's all quite simple, and I think that's the way to do it."
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For Mardle, the key is ensuring that content feels natural rather than forced.
"When it's all contrived, is when people find that it's all a bit hard work, and they don't stick at it, but you have to use social media, you have to use the media. If you're on TV, if you're in the media, at least make it work for you."
Samuel GillChief Content Officer
Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of DartsNews.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy across professional darts coverage. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces, playing a central role in the development and daily operation of the site.
Based in Leicester, Samuel has extensive experience in darts media and has been closely involved in coverage of the professional darts circuit for several years. Within the UK darts community, he is a recognised figure known for his consistent editorial output and ongoing reporting on major tournaments and developments across the PDC calendar.
In his current role, Samuel works closely with editors and writers to ensure content meets clear journalistic standards, with a focus on source verification, editorial consistency, and timely updates when new, confirmed information becomes available.
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