Career
Lewis won the World Masters and WDF World Cup boys' events in 2009. [1]
Lewis reached the last 24 of the 2010 World Masters, losing 2–3 in sets to Ted Hankey. He also reached the semi-finals of the 2011 WDF World Cup, losing out to Martin Adams 3–6. [2]
In January 2012, then-20-year-old Lewis successfully earned a Professional Darts Corporation tour card on day four of the PDC Pro Tour Q School. This enabled him to participate in all 2012 and 2013 Players Championships, UK Open Qualifiers and European Tour events. [3] Lewis competed in his first UK Open in 2012, defeating Steve Farmer and Mark Stephenson before falling to Pete Hudson in the second round. [4] In August, Lewis beat John Scott and Michael Barnard in the UK Qualifier for the fourth European Tour event of the year, the German Darts Masters, [5] but then lost 3–6 to Richie Burnett in the first round in Stuttgart, Germany. [6] He also still competed, and won twice, on the 2012 Youth Tour. [7]
Lewis finished fourth on the 2012 Youth Tour Order of Merit, but was the highest player who had not already qualified for the 2013 World Championship. [8] [9] In Lewis' first appearance in the tournament he lost to the Philippines Lourence Ilagan in the preliminary round by four legs to three, despite leading 3–1. [10] He was ranked world number 68 after the event. [11] At the UK Open, Lewis lost 5–3 to Tony West in the preliminary round. [12]
Lewis reached his first final on the main tour at the Gibraltar Darts Trophy. He beat Colin Osborne 6–4, Robert Thornton 6–5, Steve Brown 6–0, Kevin Painter 6–5 and two-time world champion Adrian Lewis 6–5. [13] His match against Lewis guaranteed him a spot in the World Matchplay for the first time and Lewis stated that that match was his final. In the final itself he was defeated 6–1 by 16-time world champion Phil Taylor. [14] He played Painter in the first round of the World Matchplay and was defeated 10–7. [15] His best results in the rest of the year were in two Players Championships where he lost in the quarter-finals to Mensur Suljović and Jamie Robinson. [16] His performances over the year saw him finish 32nd on the ProTour Order of Merit to claim the final spot in the Players Championship Finals. [17] In Lewis' debut in the event he faced top seed Michael van Gerwen in the first round and lost 6–1. [18]
2014
His ProTour ranking saw him qualify for the 2014 World Championship by claiming the third of sixteen spots that were available to players outside the top 32 on the main Order of Merit. [19] Lewis played Raymond van Barneveld in the first round and was beaten 3–0, losing each set by three legs to one as he hit only three of his fourteen darts at a double. [20] Lewis had risen 28 places during the year to be ranked world number 40. [21]
In February 2014, Lewis reached the second Pro Tour final of his career by averaging 108.07 in defeating world number one Michael van Gerwen 6–4 in the semi-finals of the fourth UK Open Qualifier, but he could not replicate the performance in the final as he was beaten 6–1 by Brendan Dolan. [22] He advanced to the fifth round of the UK Open for the first time a month later but was beaten 9–5 by Mensur Suljović. [23] During the rest of the campaign, Lewis was beaten in the last 16 of three Players Championships and qualified for three European Tour events, but could not get past the second round. [24]
2018
Lewis failed to qualify for the 2018 PDC World Darts Championship via the Order of Merit, saying on Twitter that he was really disappointed in himself for his failure to qualify. [42] However, he finished third at the PDPA Qualifier in Milton Keynes, winning a place in the preliminary round. [43] After defeating Kenny Neyens in the preliminary round, and compatriot Jonny Clayton in the first round, he defeated world number two Peter Wright in the second round, [44] before knocking out James Richardson [45] to reach the quarter final.
In the quarter-final, Lewis whitewashed Darren Webster. In defeating Richardson and Webster, he became the first player to qualify for a quarter-final, and subsequently a semi-final, after starting in the preliminary round. [42] In the semi-finals, Jamie went out to Phil Taylor 6–1.
On 10 March, Lewis reached the semi-finals at Players Championship 3. He defeated Diogo Portela 6–3 in the opening round, then Adam Hunt 6–5, hitting a nine-dart finish in the penultimate leg to break Hunt's throw and take the game to a last-leg decider in which he held throw in 16 darts. [46] Lewis then defeated Stephen Bunting 6–2, Danny Noppert 6–1, and Joe Cullen 6–3, before losing to Gary Anderson 6–3 in the semi-finals. [47]
2019
Lewis qualified for the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship through being in the Top 32 on the Order of Merit. He entered the tournament in the second round as he was seeded 28th. There he faced Cody Harris, against whom he was leading 2–0, but the match went into the deciding set after a comeback from Harris. In the deciding set, Lewis whitewashed Harris and advanced into the third round. He faced the fifth seed, Daryl Gurney, and again Lewis led 3–1 in sets, but yet again the match went to a deciding set. Lewis won the match 4–3, winning the final set and reached the last 16 of the PDC World Darts Championship for the second year in a row. In the fourth round he was whitewashed by Dave Chisnall 4–0 in sets. [48]
At the 2019 UK Open Lewis was seeded into the fourth round, where he defeated Adrian Lewis 10–9 in a deciding leg. In the fifth round Lewis lost to Josh Payne 10–7.
Lewis did not qualify for any other major tournaments or European Tour events during the rest of the 2019 season. In Players Championship tournaments he was able to win just £7,000 during the whole year and ended up ranked 105th on the Players Championship Order of Merit.
2020
Close to the cut-off for 2020 PDC World Darts Championship he slipped out of top 32 and subsequently did not qualify for the event. He was not able to defend the prize money from the semifinal two years ago and slipped down to 57th place in PDC Order of Merit. It was still enough to maintain his Tour card.
Lewis was seeded into the third round of 2020 UK Open and defeated Ross Smith 6–5 in a deciding leg. In the fourth round he lost to Mensur Suljović 10–4.
Although the season was influenced by the outbreak of COVID-19, Lewis again struggled and did not qualify for any other major tournament. He qualified for the 2020 International Darts Open, but lost to Robert Marijanovic 6–0 in the first round, scoring a three dart average of only 57.72.
In September, Lewis announced that he was stepping away from the darts to focus on his private life. [49] It was not disclosed at the time whether or not he intended to surrender his PDC Tour Card.
In October, after losing in the European Tour event, Lewis revealed that he was suffering with anxiety disorder.
Despite this statement, he entered the PDC World Championship PDPA UK Qualifier. Lewis was the fifth seed for the qualifier and defeated David Pallett and Alan Tabern 6–2 to reach his quarter's final. Lewis defeated defeated Robert Thornton 7–5, to qualify for the 2021 World Championship. [50]
2021
At the PDC World Championship Lewis played ProTour qualifier Luke Woodhouse in the first round and came back from 2–0 down to win 3–2 in sets. In the second round he won the opening set and the fourth set against the eventual champion Gerwyn Price, but lost 3–2.
