Schedule Monday night at World Grand Prix 2024 as Luke Humphries, Luke Littler, Nathan Aspinall and more open tournament with a bang!

It's time for the 2024 World Grand Prix. One of the most exciting tournaments on the PDC calendar kicks off Monday night with the first eight matches from the first round. Read our preview here.

This tournament is a unique event on the PDC calendar. The World Grand Prix is the only tournament where the legs are started and ended with a double. Because of this format, the World Grand Prix is known for its surprises, with often early eliminations of big names.

The first match of the evening might just spring an immediate surprise. Josh Rock will face the always dangerous Ryan Joyce, for whom the format of the World Grand Prix is ideal. As his nickname suggests, "Relentless" is often ruthless on the doubles;

Rock took another step in his development as a darter this season by winning a Euro Tour tournament. Joyce reached, but lost, a Players Championship final this season.

For Rock, it will be his second appearance at the World Grand Prix, after losing to Michael van Gerwen in the first round last year. Joyce meanwhile, is making his first appearance since 2020, when he reached the second round.

A duel in which both will see chances to reach the second round, although Martin Schindler will be a lot higher in his confidence. The German won a Euro Tour tournament for the second time this season at the end of September. It's time for 'The Wall' to get a good result at a televised tournament as well.

Dolan is due for a good result at all, as he is experiencing a couple of bad months after Dolan won another Players Championship tournament in May. In the 23 ranking tournaments Dolan played after that, he was eliminated 14 times in the first round.

However, "The History Maker," who was in the 2011 World Grand Prix final, can boast a good record against Schindler. The Northern Irishman won six of the previous eight encounters with Schindler.

Ritchie Edhouse is the first debutant at this World Grand Prix. The Englishman got off to an excellent start this season including two Euro Tour quarterfinals and a semifinal on the Players Championship circuit. In recent weeks, 'The Madhouse' seemed to be in less form, but suddenly Edhouse shone last week with an average of over 120 on the Pro Tour.

Jonny Clayton will compete in the World Grand Prix for the seventh time. In his career best year of 2021, "The Ferret" got to lift the trophy, but that was also only time Clayton got past the last sixteen at the double-in double-out tournament.

Matches between Clayton and Edhouse have often been exciting in the past. They faced each other four times, and three of these duels were decided only after a decisive leg. In the head-to-head, Clayton currently leads 3-1.

Is Nathan Aspinall fit enough again to make his mark at this tournament? There is a lot at stake for 'The Asp' at this World Grand Prix, as he has to defend his final place from two years ago. After the World Matchplay, Aspinall was out for a month and a half due to an arm injury, but he says he has recovered from that now. Aspinall is playing pain-free, but the form is yet to come.

Ryan Searle has already been in five PDC finals this season, but only one of them actually resulted in a title. There should have been at least two, as Searle missed seven match darts to win the Swiss Darts Trophy in late September. Although Searle usually performs well on the Pro Tour, the Englishman's TV results have been quite disappointing. Only three times did he reach the quarterfinals on a major.

In the mutual balance, Aspinall has a slight lead over his compatriot. Five of the nine encounters were won by "The Asp. Only one previous confrontation took place at a major. In the first round of the 2023 European Championship, Aspinall managed a 6-3 win over Searle.

Another intriguing first-round match is the one between Raymond van Barneveld and Ricardo Pietreczko. The two faced each other as recently as late September in an epic encounter in the second round of the Swiss Darts Trophy, where van Barneveld narrowly prevailed with a 6-5 victory.

The 57-year-old Dutchman, twice runner-up at the World Grand Prix, wants to show he is not worn out yet and get far in this tournament. Van Barneveld is playing mostly well at Pro Tour tournaments this year, where he also managed to capture a title this year.

The 29-year-old Pietreczko was eliminated in the first round at last year's Grand Prix on his debut and will be keen to make up for this in Leicester. Recently, 'Pikachu' did show good form with a final place at the Flanders Darts Trophy.

The last match prior to the World Grand Prix was between Luke Humphries and Stephen Bunting and in Leicester the two Englishmen face each other again. Humphries and Bunting met in the final of Players Championship 26, with the win going to Humphries after a deciding leg.

Both men are having excellent seasons. Humphries started the year in sensational fashion with the world title, and went on to win five more titles. Bunting set the tone of a good year by winning the Masters in February. 'The Bullet' also went on to reach five finals on the Players Championship circuit, but lost them all.

In the head-to-head, Humphries leads 10-5. 'Cool Hand Luke' won four of the six encounters in 2024. One of Bunting's wins over his compatriot was in his run of wins at the Masters.

Arguably the tie of the round. The former world champion against the new face of darts. The two players also faced each other in the semifinals of the World Darts Championship, where Luke Littler won 6-2 in sets from Rob Cross after a spectacular match.

In terms of titles, Littler has become the most successful player of 2024. No less than PDC titles 'The Nuke' already managed to win, including the Premier League Darts and the World Series Finals. However, these majors do not count toward the world rankings, so Littler is still 20th in the world rankings. Cross is ranked number four in the world rankings. 'Voltage' has two titles under his belt in 2024; a Euro Tour and a World Series tournament.

Both Englishmen met eight times already this season. In the Premier League, Cross won once from Littler, and that also the only time 'Voltage' won from his compatriot. Littler took the win in the other seven encounters.

The evening concludes with a promising encounter between Gian van Veen and Ross Smith. For Van Veen it will be his debut at the World Grand Prix, while Smith has competed for the past three seasons, reaching the second round each time.

Earlier this year Van Veen already made his debut at the World Matchplay, when he was eliminated by Rob Cross after missed matchdarts in the first round. Smith reached the quarter-finals of that tournament. Smudger' also played in two Euro Tour finals in 2024, something Van Veen also did once.

The head-to-head between Van Veen and Smith is nicely balanced. Four times they met and both managed to win twice. Three of the four matches were decided only after a decisive leg.

In the U.K, the tournament is broadcast on Sky Sports. On Oct. 7 and 8, broadcasts begin at 6 p.m.. The start times advance to 7 p.m. on Oct. 9, 10 and 11. On Saturday, Oct. 12, the semi-finals begin at 7:30 p.m. and the finals on Sunday, Oct. 13, start from 8:00 p.m.

All participating players are guaranteed £7500 in starting money. Second-round losers receive £15,000. The quarter-finalists go home with at least £25,000, the semi-finalists almost one and a half times as much (£40,000). The losing finalist receives a check for £60,000 and the winner receives the grand prize of £120,000.

Josh Rock v Ryan Joyce

Brendan Dolan v Martin Schindler

Jonny Clayton v Ritchie Edhouse

Nathan Aspinall v Ryan Searle

Raymond van Barneveld v Ricardo Pietreczko

Luke Humphries v Stephen Bunting

Rob Cross v Luke Littler

Gian van Veen v Ross Smith