“That was the hardest defeat in my career” - Max Hopp still feels the pain of James Wade loss

At 30, Max Hopp already has nearly half a lifetime in professional darts behind him. The German made his PDC World Darts Championship debut as a teenager, became one of his country's best-known players and won a European Tour title in 2018. There are missed chances he still thinks about, particularly his defeat to James Wade in the semi-finals of that year's European Championship.

In an interview with Tungsten Tales, Hopp reflected on his early breakthrough and the expectations that came with it. The former World Youth champion still believes his best years are ahead of him. “I mean, literally half of my life I'm playing professional darts now. I turned 30 this year and I started off when I was 16. So yeah, I've seen a few things, done a few things in the sport, and I'm looking forward to do some more damage and possibly reach my full potential.”

Hopp started playing darts at 11. His dad brought home a dartboard, but his mum didn't want it in the living room, so it ended up in his bedroom. “This is how I started, literally. But I was always more into other sports and then just darts came my way and I had some passion for it, some talent for it.”

Hopp threw himself into the sport, watching videos on YouTube and looking online for ways to improve. “My first things were like Googling practice tips and asking people in the forum, ‘How should I practise? How can I improve my game?’”

One of the first players he looked up to was Adrian Lewis, who won his first world title in 2011. “The first superstar or super player I met or I was a fan of was Adrian Lewis at the time, 2010–11, when he was close to win his first World Championship title there. That was my kind of person to look up to.”

Hopp was just as interested in what the professionals threw. He ordered different darts and flights and tried to recreate the set-ups he saw. “I've tried literally everything,” he said. “I've ordered every single Pentathlon flight, Amazon flights and everything you can imagine, and always trying to copy set-ups.”

That curiosity extended to how players gripped the dart. “Then I met Colin Lloyd in person, asked him how he grips the dart, how he holds them. I tried kite flights because of Colin Lloyd. So yeah, I was always fascinated about darts and about how people play and what they use. And I still am, actually.”

Hopp had already played at Alexandra Palace by the time he faced Mervyn King at the 2015 World Championship. King was among the world's top 10 at the time, but the German teenager knocked him out in the first round.

Hopp was 18 when he sealed the win with a 161 checkout. “I can repeat it, like treble 20, treble 17, bullseye,” he said. “In this moment I hit a 161 finish to finish the game against Mervyn. At this time a top-10 player of the world. I think he was number eight in the rankings. He was close to getting the Premier League spot, like, and then he came to a young 18-year-old Max Hopp.”

What Hopp remembers most is how freely he played that night. “I played with a lot of freedom, with a lot of passion. And the 161, I hit it twice in this game, and it's always a moment I'm going to remember.”

The win brought him more attention from the German media. “After this game, obviously, the media jumped onto it. Young German, fits in the profile, beats the top player.” Hopp was comfortable with that side of the job. “I was always made for stages and cameras. I was never afraid of them.”

The expectations grew after his breakthrough. “It only got a little bit hard when you proceed round by round and obviously the year after people have high expectations that you make the next steps. But at the time I probably wasn't ready or my game wasn't there that I could make the step from here to here.”

Hopp points to Peter Wright as an example of how differently careers can develop. “I always say Peter Wright became a world champion when he was 49.” He added, “I think everybody develops different and you never know when you're going to peak.”

Hopp's first European Tour title came in Saarbrucken in 2018, a landmark win for German darts. He beat Michael Smith in the German Darts Open final in front of a home crowd, having knocked out reigning world champion Rob Cross in the semi-finals.

“As far as we're talking now, obviously this win on the Euro Tour has been massive,” Hopp said. “I beat the Bully Boy, Michael Smith, at the time, 121 finish on the way. And on my way to the final, beat Rob Cross as the current world champion at the time.”

The win helped Hopp climb the world rankings. Later that year, he came within a dart of another breakthrough.

Hopp reached the semi-finals of the 2018 European Championship and led Wade 9-5. He later had three match darts at 10-9, but Wade survived them and won the decider. “In the same year, I also had my hardest defeat,” Hopp said. “In the European Championship, I reached the semi-final, TV major semi-final. In the end of the day, I lost 11-10 to James.”

Eight years on, it still ranks as the toughest loss of his career. A win would have put Hopp into his first major final against Simon Whitlock. “Obviously it was a good chance to come to a major final. Then Simon Whitlock would have awaited me in the final. And he played, no disrespect to Simon, but only 88 or 89 average. So that's something you can easily catch on to.”

Hopp gives Wade credit for the win, but still wonders how differently his career might have gone had he taken one of those chances. “James Wade was the deserved winner in the semi-final and in the final on that day. But it was my opportunity because I would climb the rankings until number 15 in the world. At this time would have had a major title, a Euro title in the season. And at this time, it possibly would have been enough for bigger things with the Worlds coming up, where then I lost in the third round.”

Hopp still believes he can play the best darts of his career. He says he has hit two nine-darters this season and averaged well over 90. “Probably years ago I would have been with this easy in the top 40, top 35 of the world. But then nowadays it's only top 64.”

Hopp sees that as a measure of how far the standard has risen. “I think I played a 94, 95-ish average in this game,” he said of the win over King. “Possibly nowadays, doesn't even guarantee you a first-round win, you know.”

That level of competition still appeals to him. “I've always been a player who loved the challenge. And Luke Littler clearly is the ultimate challenge.”

With more than 1,600 PDC matches behind him, Hopp says he is more at ease in situations that might once have unsettled him. “All my experience which I have already, I can use it against so many opponents. I know how they're going to react, how they're going to play the game. So I'm so relaxed in games because I've been in this situation so often.”

He handles losses differently now, too. “When you have this experience, you're kind of a bit more relaxed,” he said, pointing to Chris Dobey as an example. “He takes the win, but he can accept the loss as well and analyse where it all went wrong. And then you move on.”

Asked if his peak was still ahead of him, Hopp replied, “It's yet to come.” At 30, he puts that outlook down to what experience has given him. “It keeps us more matured in a way and obviously gives us a lot of self-confidence because we've been through a lot of things. So yeah, I think the peak time is the next 10 years.”