ROB CROSS admits he has to “pull his finger out” after a slump in form.
The former world champ made a great start to the year by winning the Players Championship One and Dutch Darts Masters titles.
Shutterstock EditorialRob Cross has admitted that he has to put the work in to return to his former level in competitive darts[/caption]
Shutterstock EditorialThe former world champ highlighted a lack of focus and passion as his explanation for his slump[/caption]
But the Sussex thrower has been inconsistent since, and he’s yet to make a major quarter-final in 2025.
The World No.9 endured a frustrating World Matchplay campaign, crashing out in the first round after a shock 10-8 defeat to Dirk van Duijvenbode.
Four-times major winner Cross concedes he’s been struggling with focus and passion at the oche — but says it’s time to get serious.
He said: “The motivation is a problem for me at the minute, you know, obviously I’ve had time out.
“I played four or five times in seven weeks, and I felt good for the Matchplay actually, I managed to do a bit of practice and stuff.
“Concentration is probably a little bit of an issue there against Dirk, you know, 6-2 up, averaging 108, and then it was like switching the tap off.
“I need to correct that really coming up for the rest of the year from September onwards, but yeah, motivation has got to change.
“I’ve got to probably pull my finger out and actually put a bit more practice in and get a little bit more keen and more passionate about the game.
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PACross suffered a disappointing defeat in the first round of the world matchplay to Dirk van Duijvenbode[/caption]
“That’s darts and if I don’t work at it hard enough, I’m not the most naturally talented player out of all of us up there.
“Some people probably won’t have to pick a dart up for a month and still come back and be sort of very decent so yeah, I need to put that work in.”
List of all-time Darts World Champions
BELOW is a list of darts world champions by year.
The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions.
That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once – Barney also won four BDO titles – and none of Eric Bristow’s five BDO titles are included.
1994 – Dennis Priestley
1995 – Phil Taylor
1996 – Phil Taylor (2)
1997 – Phil Taylor (3)
1998 – Phil Taylor (4)
1999 – Phil Taylor (5)
2000 – Phil Taylor (6)
2001 – Phil Taylor (7)
2002 – Phil Taylor (8)
2003 – John Part
2004 – Phil Taylor (9)
2005 – Phil Taylor (10)
2006 – Phil Taylor (11)
2007 – Raymond van Barneveld
2008 – John Part (2)
2009 – Phil Taylor (12)
2010 – Phil Taylor (13)
2011 – Adrian Lewis
2012 – Adrian Lewis (2)
2013 – Phil Taylor (14)
2014 – Michael van Gerwen
2015 – Gary Anderson
2016 – Gary Anderson (2)
2017 – Michael van Gerwen (2)
2018 – Rob Cross
2019 – Michael van Gerwen (3)
2020 – Peter Wright
2021 – Gerwyn Price
2022 – Peter Wright (2)
2023 – Michael Smith
2024 – Luke Humphries
2025 – Luke Littler
Most World Titles
14 – Phil Taylor
3 – Michael van Gerwen
2 – John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright
1 – Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries, Luke Littler
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