Nathan Aspinall

Nathan Aspinall
Aspinall at the 2024 World Grand Prix
Personal information
Nickname	"The Asp"
Born	(1991-07-15) 15 July 1991 (age 33) Stockport, England
Darts information
Darts	26g Target Darts Signature Gen 2
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	"Mr. Brightside" by the Killers with intro to “Charlemagne” by Blossoms
Organisation (see split in darts)
PDC	2012– (Tour Card: 2015–2016, 2018–)
Current world ranking	12 2 (24 November 2024) [1]
WDF major events – best performances
World Masters	Last 272: 2013
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Semi Final: 2019, 2020
World Matchplay	Winner (1): 2023
World Grand Prix	Runner Up: 2022
UK Open	Winner (1): 2019
Grand Slam	Runner Up: 2022
European Ch'ship	Semi Final: 2021
Premier League	Runner Up: 2020
PC Finals	Last 32: 2018, 2020, 2021, 2024
Masters	Semi Final: 2020, 2024
World Series Finals	Runner Up: 2023
Other tournament wins
Players Championships Players Championship (BAR) 2018, 2020 (x2), 2022 (x2) World Series of Darts US Darts Masters 2019 PDC Home Tour PDC Home Tour 2020 Challenge Tour PDC Challenge Tour 2017 PDC Development Tour 2015

Nathan Aspinall (born 15 July 1991) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently the World No. 12.

Nicknamed "The Asp", he has won 8 senior PDC titles, including the 2023 World Matchplay, the 2019 UK Open and 2019 US Darts Masters.

Early life

Aspinall played semi-professional football as a goalkeeper, having once been scouted by Manchester United's academy. He was offered a deal by Rangers but turned it down as his family did not want to move to Scotland. He played in Stockport County's academy until he was 15, joining Cheadle Town. He worked as a trainee accountant before quitting to become a professional darts player. ^[2]

Career

Aspinall began playing in PDC Development and Challenge Tour events in 2012. His first semi-final in those came in 2013, where he lost 4–2 to Max Hopp. ^[3] He won a two-year PDC Tour Card in 2015 through the Q School Order of Merit and qualified for the UK Open, where he beat Chris Dobey 5–1 and James Richardson 9–4, before losing 4–9 to James Wade in the fourth round. ^{[4] [5]} Aspinall's first European Tour appearance was at the Dutch Darts Masters and he squeezed past Jamie Robinson and Vincent van der Voort both 6–5. ^[6] In the third round Justin Pipe eliminated him 6–4. ^[7] Aspinall won the seventh Development Tour event of 2015 with a 4–2 victory over Benito van de Pas. ^[8] He also lost in the final of two other events during the year. ^[9] Aspinall made his first televised appearance in the final of the 2015 PDC World Youth Championship, where he played the German Max Hopp. After 10 legs of holding throw, the final deciding leg was thrown by Aspinall, and despite having match darts, it was Hopp who won 6–5. ^[10]

While throwing a dart, Aspinall often stops to grip it differently. Commentators and others have suggested that this is due to dartitis. Michael van Gerwen indicated in 2022 that, during a match, he thought his opponent was suffering from this problem. Aspinall himself invariably denies during interviews that the hiccups have a mental cause. ^{[11] [12]}

2016

Aspinall was beaten 6–5 by Stuart Kellett in the second round of the 2016 UK Open. ^[13] At the sixth Players Championship he reached his first quarter-final on the main tour and narrowly lost 6–5 against Vincent van der Voort. ^[14] Aspinall qualified for his first Grand Slam of Darts, but could not get a win out of his group fixtures with Raymond van Barneveld, Mensur Suljović and Danny Noppert to finish bottom of his group. ^[15]

2018

Aspinall won his first ranking PDC title in September 2018, beating Ryan Searle 6–4 in the final of Players Championship 18, in Barnsley. ^[16]

Aspinall made his Players Championship Finals debut at the 2018 edition as the 25th seed. He defeated 40th seed Martin Schindler 6–1 in the first round but lost to 8th seed James Wade 6–4 in the second round.

2019

At the 2019 World Championship, Aspinall made his debut as a ProTour Order of Merit qualifier. He was made a 500/1 outsider before the tournament. ^[17] In the first round he whitewashed Geert Nentjes 3–0 before defeating the 6th seed Gerwyn Price 3–2 in a deciding set in the second round. ^[18] Aspinall then defeated Kyle Anderson 4–1, ^[19] Devon Petersen 4–3 ^[20] and Brendan Dolan 5–1 ^[21] on his way to the semi-finals, where he lost to Michael Smith 6–3.

Following Gary Anderson's withdrawal from the 2019 Premier League, Aspinall was selected as one of nine 'contenders' to replace him. He played a one-off match against Michael Smith on night six in Nottingham, losing 7–2.

Aspinall won his first PDC major at the 2019 UK Open, defeating Toni Alcinas, Christian Kist, Madars Razma, Steve Lennon, Ross Smith and Gerwyn Price to reach the final, where he defeated Rob Cross 11–5 to take the title, winning the final leg with a 170 checkout. ^[22] The win took Aspinall into the top 16 of the PDC Order of Merit for the first time in his career.

Aspinall won his second televised title at the 2019 US Darts Masters, the first event on the 2019 World Series of Darts. ^[23] It was Aspinall's first World Series event, and the only one he was selected to compete in during the 2019 edition. ^[24] In the first round, he defeated Shawn Brenneman 6–2 before achieving wins over Rob Cross 8–5, and Peter Wright 8–7 in a last leg decider. Aspinall averaged 106.70 in the final, defeating Michael Smith 8-4. Aspinall received £20,000 in prize money for his victory.

He made his debut at the World Matchplay at the 2019 event. He was the first player to make his World Matchplay debut as a seed since Simon Whitlock in 2010. He lost to Mervyn King in the first round 10-5 despite averaging 103.

2020

At the 2020 World Championship Aspinall once again reached the semi-finals, beating Gary Anderson en route. He eventually fell to defending champion Michael van Gerwen.

2021

At the 2021 World Championship, Aspinall beat Scott Waites 3–2 in the second round before losing 4–2 in the third round to Vincent van der Voort.

2022

At the 2022 World Championship, Aspinall was whitewashed 4–0 in the third round by Callan Rydz.

At the World Grand Prix in October, Aspinall reached the final, where despite briefly rallying from 4–0 down, he finally succumbed 5–3 to Michael van Gerwen.

He also reached the final of the Grand Slam of Darts in November, losing 16–5 to Michael Smith, who won his first major title.

2023

At the 2023 World Championship, Aspinall lost 4–3 in the third round to Josh Rock.

In July he won a second televised major at the World Matchplay, defeating Jonny Clayton 18–6 in the final. ^[25]

2024

At the 2024 World Championship, Aspinall suffered a shock early exit, losing 3–0 in the second round to Ricky Evans.

At the 2024 UK Open Aspinall defeated Scott Mitchell 10–6 in the fourth round but lost 10–9 to Damon Heta in a deciding leg in the fifth round.

Prior to his appearance at the World Matchplay, Aspinall admitted that due to a tennis elbow-like injury, he would be taking a break following his title defence. ^[26]

Personal life

Aspinall is a supporter of Manchester United ^[27] and his local side Stockport County. ^[28]

World Championship results

PDC

• 2019: Semi-finals (lost to Michael Smith 3–6)
• 2020: Semi-finals (lost to Michael van Gerwen 3–6)
• 2021: Third round (lost to Vincent van der Voort 2–4)
• 2022: Third round (lost to Callan Rydz 0–4)
• 2023: Third round (lost to Josh Rock 3–4)
• 2024: Second round (lost to Ricky Evans 0–3)
• 2025: Ongoing

Career finals

PDC major finals: 6 (2 titles, 4 runners-up)

Legend
World Matchplay (1–0)
Premier League (0–1)
UK Open (1–0)
World Grand Prix (0–1)
Grand Slam of Darts (0–1)
World Series of Darts Finals (0–1)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score [N 1]	Ref.
Winner	1.	2019	UK Open	Rob Cross	11–5 (l)	[29]
Runner-up	1.	2020	Premier League	Glen Durrant	8–11 (l)
Runner-up	2.	2022	World Grand Prix	Michael van Gerwen	3–5 (s)
Runner-up	3.	2022	Grand Slam of Darts	Michael Smith	5–16 (l)
Winner	2.	2023	World Matchplay	Jonny Clayton	18–6 (l)
Runner-up	4.	2023	World Series of Darts Finals	Michael van Gerwen	4–11 (l)

1. (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

PDC World Series finals: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Legend
World Series of Darts (1–1)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	2019	US Darts Masters	Michael Smith	8–4 (l)
Runner-up	1.	2023	New Zealand Darts Masters	Rob Cross	7–8 (l)

Performance timeline

Tournament	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Ranked televised events
PDC World Championship	DNP		Did not qualify				SF	SF	3R	3R	3R	2R
UK Open	DNP		4R	2R	DNQ	3R	W	4R	4R	4R	QF	5R
World Matchplay	DNP		Did not qualify				1R	1R	QF	QF	W	2R
World Grand Prix	DNP		Did not qualify				QF	1R	1R	F	1R	2R
European Championship	DNP		DNQ		1R	DNQ	2R	2R	SF	1R	2R	1R
Grand Slam of Darts	DNP		DNQ	RR	DNQ		RR	QF	DNQ	F	2R	DNQ
Players Championship Finals	DNP		Did not qualify			2R	1R	2R	2R	1R	DNQ	2R
Non-ranked televised events
The Masters	DNP		Did not qualify					SF	QF	WD	1R	SF
Premier League Darts	Did not play						C	F	SF	DNP	5th	5th
World Series of Darts Finals	NH		Did not qualify				1R	QF	1R	DNP	F	WD
PDC World Youth Championship	DNP		F	Did not play
BDO Ranked televised events
Winmau World Masters	1R	Not a BDO player						NH		PDC
Career statistics
Year-end ranking	-	-	102	73	64	72	12	6	14	9	4

PDC European Tour

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
2015	GDC DNQ	GDT DNQ	GDM DNQ	DDM 3R	IDO DNQ	EDO 1R	EDT DNP	EDM DNP	EDG DNQ
2016	DDM DNQ	GDM 1R	GDT DNQ	EDM DNQ	ADO DNQ	EDO DNQ	IDO DNQ	EDT DNQ	EDG 2R	GDC DNQ
2017	GDC DNQ	GDM DNP	GDO 2R	EDG DNQ	GDT DNQ	EDM 2R	ADO DNQ	EDO 1R	DDM 3R	GDG 3R	IDO DNQ	EDT 2R
2018	EDO DNQ	GDG 1R	GDO 1R	ADO DNQ	EDG DNQ	DDM DNQ	GDT DNQ	DDO DNQ	EDM DNQ	GDC DNQ	DDC DNQ	IDO DNQ	EDT DNQ
2019	EDO DNQ	GDC 2R	GDG DNQ	GDO QF	ADO 3R	EDG QF	DDM 1R	DDO 2R	CDO 2R	ADC 2R	EDM 2R	IDO QF	GDT SF
2020	BDC QF	GDC 3R	EDG QF	IDO 3R
2021	HDT 3R	GDT SF
2022	IDO SF	GDC DNP	GDG DNP	ADO SF	EDO QF	CDO 2R	EDG DNQ	DDC 2R	EDM QF	HDT SF	GDO 2R	BDO 3R	GDT QF
2023	BSD 2R	EDO DNQ	IDO 3R	GDG F	ADO 3R	DDC 3R	BDO QF	CDO QF	EDG QF	EDM QF	GDO 3R	HDT 2R	GDC 2R
2024	BDO 1R	GDG QF	IDO 3R	EDG WD	ADO DNP	BSD 1R	DDC WD	EDO WD	GDC WD	FDT WD	HDT 2R	SDT 3R	CDO

PDC Players Championships

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
2024	WIG 4R	WIG 3R	LEI 1R	LEI 2R	HIL DNP	HIL DNP	LEI 3R	LEI 2R	HIL DNP	HIL DNP	HIL 3R	HIL 3R	MIL 2R	MIL 4R	MIL DNP	MIL DNP	MIL DNP	MIL DNP	MIL DNP	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	MIL 2R	MIL 3R	WIG 2R	WIG 1R	WIG 2R	WIG 2R	WIG 1R	LEI 3R	LEI 1R

Performance Table Legend
W	Won the tournament	F	Finalist	SF	Semifinalist	QF	Quarterfinalist	#R RR Prel.	Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round	DQ	Disqualified
DNQ	Did not qualify	DNP	Did not participate	WD	Withdrew	NH	Tournament not held			NYF	Not yet founded

References

1. "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 24 November 2024. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
2. Walters, Mike (10 December 2019). "Aspinall was bailed out by 1p bank transfer before fairytale Ally Pally run". The Mirror. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
3. "2013 PDC Challenge Tour England Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
4. "PDC Qualifying School Day Four". PDC . Retrieved 28 December 2016.
5. "2015 UK Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
6. "Dutch Darts Masters Day Two". PDC . Retrieved 6 June 2015.
7. "2015 PDC Dutch Darts Masters Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
8. "PDC Unicorn Development Tour 7-8". PDC . Retrieved 28 December 2016.
9. "Nathan Aspinall 2015". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 28 December 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
10. "World Youth Glory For Hopp". PDC . Retrieved 28 December 2016.
11. "Dokter Van Gerwen stelt diagnose bij Nathan Aspinall: 'Lijkt op darteritus'". Sportnieuws (in Dutch). 22 July 2022. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
12. "KIJK. Aspinall, tegenstander van 'Dancing Dimi', stelt dat aarzeling niets met psychische dartsziekte heeft te maken: "Het is gewoon een kwestie van grip"". Het Laatste Nieuws (in Dutch). 15 March 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
13. "2016 Coral UK Open Day One". PDC . Retrieved 28 December 2016.
14. "Payne Edges Out Wade For Maiden Title". PDC . Retrieved 28 December 2016.
15. "2016 Grand Slam Of Darts Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
16. "Nathan Aspinall wins Players Championship 18 in Barnsley". Sky Sports . 15 September 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
17. Phillips, Josh (28 November 2018). "Van Gerwen Favourite With William Hill". PDC . Retrieved 30 December 2018.
18. "Gerwyn Price beaten by Nathan Aspinall as PDC world darts shocks continue". The Guardian . 21 December 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
19. "Aspinall continues ground breaking run with victory over Anderson to move through to last 16". Dartsnews. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
20. "Aspinall verslaat Petersen in absolute kraker op WK Darts". Sportnieuws (in Dutch). Retrieved 30 December 2018.
21. Haigh, Phil (29 December 2018). "Nathan Aspinall bludgeons Brendan Dolan to make PDC World Championship semi-final on debut". Metro . Retrieved 30 December 2018.
22. Phillips, Josh (3 March 2019). "2019 Ladbrokes UK Open Finals Day". PDC . Retrieved 3 March 2019.
23. Allen, Dave (5 July 2024). "Dafabet US Darts Masters Glory For Aspinall". PDC. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
24. Haigh, Phil (6 July 2019). "Nathan Aspinall reacts to stunning US Darts Masters win on World Series debut". Metro. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
25. "Awesome Aspinall storms to Betfred World Matchplay title". www.pdc.tv. 24 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
26. "NATHAN ASPINALL LIKELY OUT UNTIL SEPTEMBER OR OCTOBER DEPENDENT ON WORLD MATCHPLAY RUN DUE TO 'TENNIS ELBOW' TYPE INJURY". dartsnews.com. 14 July 2024. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
27. Walters, Mike (15 May 2024). "Nathan Aspinall has Man Utd-related motivation ahead of key Premier League match". The Mirror. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
28. Stronge, Isaac Stacey (9 March 2024). "Meet Stockport County's celebrity supporters from best-selling band to darts stars". FootballLeagueWorld. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
29. Phillips, Josh. "2019 Ladbrokes UK Open Finals Day". PDC . Retrieved 3 March 2019.

External links

• Nathan Aspinall player profile at Darts Orakel