“I’ve ruined their Christmases” – Ricky Evans opens up on World Championship struggles, Tour Card fears and why he refuses to walk away

Ricky Evans has spent long enough around the PDC circuit to know the strange cruelty of modern darts. A 97 average can send you home beaten, an 84 can be enough to survive, and a player ranked outside the elite can still walk onto the Alexandra Palace stage and wreck the plans of some of the biggest names in the sport.

Evans has done exactly that more than once. The 35-year-old from Kettering remains one of the most recognisable characters in darts, a fan favourite whose walk-ons have become part of the World Championship theatre, but behind the showman is a player still wrestling with the same frustration: he knows he can trouble the best, yet the deeper breakthrough has still not arrived.

Speaking to Oche180, Evans was open about the emotional swings that come with life on tour, where strong performances do not always bring wins and where the standard has made every ProTour draw feel loaded.

“I love darts,” he said. “I love it just in general. I’ll watch as much as I can. Even if it’s not the PDC, I’ll watch the British Internationals, the Six Nations, Modus, the Super Series. I’ll watch Challenge Tours if it’s on DartConnect. I just want to know who’s about, who’s doing well. It’s just part of me.”

That love for the sport has not made the defeats easier to absorb. Evans admitted that ProTour losses can still hit him hard, particularly when he feels he has produced a level good enough to win.

“I go to these Pro Tours and I get downbeat when I lose,” he admitted. “I have a 97 average and I’m like, ‘Oh, what’s the point?’ But no, I’ve just got to keep going, keep focusing, keep playing and keep enjoying it.”

There are days, Evans says, when the disappointment follows him beyond the board. “Some days I do get a bit downbeat, a bit sad about myself. Then I’ll realise there’s another day tomorrow, and there’s going to come a good day,” he explained. “It could be next week in Leicester. It could be a semi-final there and that could be like, ‘Oh, I love darts again.’”

“I forget as well, there are so many good darts players these days,” he said. “You’re going to have 97 averages and lose. You’re going to have 84 averages and win. No game is the same. That’s the beauty of it again.”

Even the prospect of losing his Tour Card does not sound like the end of the road in Evans’ mind. His answer was blunt. “I’m not going to throw it in or give it up any time soon,” he insisted. “If I fall off tour, who cares? There’s so much darts going about in other aspects of it. But yeah, you’ll have to drag me off stage if I lose my tour card.”

Evans’ World Championship record has become one of the more curious parts of his career. He has produced some of his best nights at Alexandra Palace, beating Nathan Aspinall, James Wade, Dave Chisnall and Simon Whitlock across different visits to the sport’s biggest stage. Yet the run after Christmas has repeatedly stalled.

“Well, I’ve never lost a game in a Christmas shirt, so that’s probably the thing as well,” Evans joked when asked about the pattern.

The issue, by his own admission, is harder to pin down once the novelty and chaos of the early rounds has gone. “I don’t know. Maybe I relax or I get...” he said. “The last couple of years I’ve been the favourite, in a way. I think I was the favourite against Manby, and I think I was the favourite against Rob Cross the year before.”

Evans wondered whether the shift in expectation changes him. “So I don’t know if I get complacent. Maybe I’m underestimating my opponent. I don’t know. I’d love to know,” he admitted.

The contrast is clear enough from his own list of victims. Evans does not shrink from big names. In fact, he seems to relish the role when the pressure is meant to sit on the other side of the oche. “But I love being an underdog,” he said. “Like you said, I beat Chisnall, I beat Wade, I beat Aspinall, Whitlock. I can play there. I can play. I’ve beaten these boys. I’ve ruined their Christmases and their Worlds.”

The line landed with a laugh, but it carried a serious point. For Evans, the next step may be less about proving he can play at Ally Pally and more about finding the same edge when he is no longer cast as the disruptor. “Maybe I need to go into every game thinking I’m the underdog. That would be lovely,” he said. “But it’s one of those things. Maybe that’s where I need to work on. But yeah, qualifying first. Qualify first.”

Evans also spoke openly about the support he has away from darts. He has been with his girlfriend for around 15 months and described her influence as a major part of his life, particularly while dealing with physical problems including arthritis and issues with his feet, legs and arms. “My girlfriend, she’s amazing,” he said. “I always used to not read stories of people saying how their partners are part of the key to their success and stuff like that.”

That support has gone beyond encouragement after defeats. “Obviously, I do struggle with a bit of arthritis and problems. I’ve got problems with my feet and legs and arms or whatever,” Evans explained. “She’s trying to combat that. She’s giving me advice, getting me appointments and getting me checked out. She doesn’t have to. I think she just wants the best for me and, obviously, vice versa. I want the best for her.”

Evans briefly became emotional as he spoke about wanting to repay that backing with success on the board. “That’s why I want to win even more, just to prove... yeah, I’m getting emotional here,” he said.

After bad days, the support at home has become part of how he resets. “It’s nice to go home sometimes after a tournament a bit downbeat and she cheers you up and says, ‘Don’t worry about it. The next one’s the one. You’ll keep doing it. You will win,’” Evans said. “So yeah, it’s lovely to have her on my side.”

He also paid tribute to his parents, who drove him around the country as a youth player and gave him the platform to build a career in darts. “I’ve got great parents as well,” Evans said. “Obviously, I wouldn’t be here, I wouldn’t be playing darts if it wasn’t for them because of the miles they drove me around the country as a youth player.”

“So yeah, it would be nice to give something back one day. That’s why I was getting emotional at Ally Pally when I’m doing my silly walk-ons.”

For now, the first target is getting back to Alexandra Palace. Evans is not finished, not close to walking away, and not pretending the job is easy. The Christmas shirt, the walk-ons and the cult following are only part of it, but the next stage of his career still comes down to the harder bit: turning those big nights into the run he has been chasing for years.