More top names withdraw from Players Championship 22-23 post World Matchplay

To the already considerable list of withdrawals for Players Championship 22 and 23, a number of top players have been added. All eight players from the Premier League Darts 2025 are absent, topped by a number of familiar names.

Earlier it was known that Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen, Jonny Clayton, Josh Rock, Damon Heta, Rob Cross, Oskar Lukasiak, Michael Smith, Jules van Dongen, Tim Wolters and Peter Wright would be absent from the Pro Tour double header in Hildesheim on July 29-30.

That has since been joined by the names of Gary Anderson, Nathan Aspinall, Stephen Bunting, Chris Dobey, Gerwyn Price and James Wade. Price already hinted at a possible withdrawal last week during the World Matchplay. He would let his participation in Hildesheim depend on his result in Blackpool.

Wade made it to the final of the World Matchplay last Sunday, in which he eventually lost to Littler. So 'The Machine' did not see fit to travel to Germany again just a day after his lost final.

The absence of many of the top players is also partly because World Series tournaments will be played in Australia and New Zealand in August. Bunting, Price, Littler, Humphries, Dobey, Heta, Rock and Mike de Decker have received invitations to play on behalf of the PDC top players. Of these eight, De Decker is the only one who does play the two Players Championship tournaments.

Players such as Anderson, Aspinall and Van Gerwen are missing from 'Down Under' and thus opting for extra rest towards the start of autumn, in which the best major tournaments will be played. 'Mighty Mike' is known to be on vacation with his children in the coming weeks.

The vacant spots at Players Championship 22 & 23 will be filled by Darius Labanauskas, Stefan Bellmont, Ted Evetts, Mervyn King, Jack Tweddell, Carl Sneyd, Danny van Trijp, Graham Hall, Jamai van den Herik, Scott Campbell, Kevin Burness, Alexander Merkx, Andreas Harrysson, Graham Usher, Tom Sykes, Henry Coates, Michael Flynn and Ron Meulenkamp. They were invited based on their positions on the Challenge Tour Order of Merit.