If you want to be as good at darts as Josh Rock, don’t listen to the 21-year-old himself: The darts prodigy from Northern Ireland says “practicing as little as possible” is the key to his success. At his debut World Cup, “Rocky” is already in the round of 16.
It’s these moments that turn a talented up-and-coming star into a top player early on in a career: In the second leg of the deciding set, Josh Rock rocks London’s Alexandra Palace, the Eldorado for darts fans. Rock has 80 points left but only two darts left. Without further ado, the 21-year-old decides to throw both arrows towards the double 20 field within fractions of a second. And the feat that was only performed at show events a few years ago darts time succeeds. Rock is just one leg away from progressing to the next round by beating fellow World Championship favorite Nathan Aspinall. Five minutes later, “Rocky” made it into the round of 16.
Rock and Aspinall, number ten in the world rankings, provide the expected spectacle in his World Cup third round match. Rock wins the first set with a bang: triple 20, triple 19, double 12. 141 checkout to make it 1-0 for “Rocky”. But Aspinall was undeterred, winning sets two and three 3-1. It’s the first time Rock has fallen behind in his debut World Championship. And it should be the last time this afternoon.
Rock grabs sets four and five, set five in particular should still be important, after all Aspinall also has the chance to take the lead again in the decision leg. But Rock remains stable and shows no nerves. Not even in the decisive seventh set, after Aspinall won the sixth round 3-0 in quick succession. Rock wins two legs, which Aspinall gets to start. 99-point checkout with two throws into doubles, the match dart sits on double eight in the first attempt.
Aspinall vs. Rock – that was the duel between two not-so-secret secret favourites, and his victory catapulted “Rocky” into the circle of title candidates. With bookmakers in England, the 21-year-old is now number five in the race for the title behind superstar Michael van Gerwen, world number one Gerwyn Price, defending champion Peter Wright and two-time runner-up Michael Smith. Only the “Fab Four” are traded higher than “Rocky”.
Success over Aspinall will not make the Northern Irishman’s title odds any more lucrative. On the other hand, anyone who predicted the 21-year-old’s winning streak at the beginning of the year has long been rich. A year ago not even the most well-connected darts experts knew his name. When Josh Rock was able to earn the tour card, the right to play for the professional tour, in January, the Northern Irishman was one of many. A surprise man who is allowed to play in the elite circle of 128 professionals for two years and then disappears again. This scenario was the realistic one.
Less than a year later, the opposite is the case. Rock is in the last 16 of the World Championship. His next opponent, world number seven Jonny Clayton, will also have to dress warmly. But what’s the secret of “Rocky”, how did he go from nobody to a title contender in less than a year? “I train as little as possible, not at all for a total of six months,” says the 21-year-old to ntv.de when asked about his secret of success.
The darts prodigy who doesn’t train? Rock flirts with this again and again. When asked, the Northern Irishman specified: “When I’m on the professional tour, I’m at home for a maximum of two or three days because we travel constantly. Through England, to Germany and elsewhere. It’s not worth training for two or three days. When I’m playing on the tour, I train anyway. The games against the others are the best training.”
He is not at all interested in what the competition shows for a training workload. “I don’t let that put me under pressure. I don’t look at what the others are doing. I concentrate on my game. I know what I can do,” says Rock in the press room of “Ally Pally”.
Also still in the running for the title at the 30th edition of the Darts World Championship is Belgian Dimitri Van den Bergh. In the first game after the Christmas break, the 28-year-old easily defeated Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski 4-1. At first there was no indication that it would be such a clear success for Van den Bergh. The game started with a double debacle. Ratajski missed four chances to win the first set, Van den Bergh only hit the crucial eight millimeter wide double field with his seventh attempt.
After the stuttering start, the encounter finally picked up speed. Van den Bergh was the better player, Ratajski was only able to keep up in the third set. The decisive factor for the victory was the strong finishing. After his first six penalties in the first deciding leg of set one, Van den Bergh missed just four more doubles in the ensuing 14 legs. An outstanding value.
A special game awaits the top Belgian player: In the round of 16, the game will be against either defending champion Peter Wright or Dimitri’s Belgian compatriot Kim Huybrechts. “Of course I would like to play Kim. That would be a very special game,” says Van den Bergh. But a duel with two-time world champion Wright would also be special. After all, the Van den Bergh let him live with him at the beginning of the corona pandemic.
When suddenly no more flights left the British mainland for Belgium at the beginning of the Corona lockdown, Van den Bergh quickly found shelter on the farm of Peter Wright and his wife Joanne. For eleven weeks, Van den Bergh trained in the darts room of the world champion to later become a major champion. “Peter Wright taught me a tremendous amount. I am grateful to him and his family for everything they did for me during this difficult time,” said the Belgian to the darts podcast “Checkout” after his World Matchplay triumph in the summer 2020
The special relationship between Van den Bergh and Wright has meanwhile cooled noticeably. At the World Matchplay, when the two met in the quarterfinals, the cordiality had completely evaporated. At the time, it seemed as if Wright had taken the defeat against his former protégé personally and couldn’t cope.
Van den Bergh admits that things have been crunching between the two recently. But there is no bad blood, says the Belgian to ntv.de. “I would describe our relationship as professional. We are focused on the World Cup and both really want to win this tournament.”
(This article was first published on Tuesday, December 27, 2022.)