"Maybe I feel a bit sad, despondent, a little bit rejected as a person": James Wade calls out Premier League Darts snub again amid ProTour title win

James Wade has made a superb start to the new Players Championship season. The 42-year-old Englishman claimed Players Championship 1 in Hildesheim on Monday, edging Nathan Aspinall 8-6 in a thrilling final.

It was Wade’s first title of 2026 and the twelfth Players Championship trophy of his career. Afterwards, he also revisited his omission from the 2026 Premier League Darts, a wound that still stings.

Last year Wade won the nineteenth Players Championship of the season, this time he struck at the very first tournament of the new campaign.

The seasoned 42-year-old endured a long, grueling day in which he had to dig deep several times. Wade began his tournament with four consecutive matches that all went to a deciding leg, including wins over Karel Sedlacek and Alexander Merkx. He then showed he could also win convincingly by beating Jeffrey De Graaf 6-1.

In the last 16, ‘The Machine’ saw off Austria’s number one Mensur Suljovic (6-3), before a true thriller followed against Joe Cullen. That tie also went the distance, but Wade kept his nerve to book a place in the semi-finals.

Awaiting him there was none other than Michael van Gerwen. Wade trailed 6-5, but turned the match around in impressive fashion. With checkouts of 104, 127, 130 and even 137, he won two legs on the spin to reach his first ProTour final since June 2025.

“I should have been in front way before and should have got it over and done with way before. I just thought, ‘Oh my God.’ But the 130 and the 104 were really incredible. But honestly, if you look at floor tournaments all day, those finishes go every day, all day. You’ll probably see two of those every time. It’s not the streaming boards you see at all. But yeah, happy.”

The final against Nathan Aspinall started sluggishly for Wade. Aspinall won five of the first eight legs to lead 5-3. Despite an average two points lower than his opponent’s, Wade kept battling. With five 180s and a blistering late surge, he completely flipped the script. Wade rattled off four legs in a row in just 41 darts and sealed the deal with a tidy 16-darter to close out an 8-6 victory and secure the £15,000 top prize.

“Against Nathan, the first four legs he just absolutely pummeled me. Yeah, I just kept going. I just had nothing to give, did I? I had nothing to give. Flat as a pancake. Yeah, but, you know, quite happy. This is me happy.”