“Perhaps the worst”
German darts star judges himself harshly
December 30, 2024 – 8:19 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Ricardo Pietreczko went into the round of 16 of the Darts World Cup with high hopes. But a harsh slap followed.
Ricardo Pietreczko managed to smile despite his clear defeat in the round of 16 at the Darts World Cup – then he ruthlessly criticized himself. “It could even be that I was the worst person to ever play in a round of 16,” said the 30-year-old in an interview with Sport1, referring to his average of less than 79.
The result was logical: after the 4-0 defeat against Nathan Aspinall, number 12 in the world rankings, he was out of the round of 16 and the World Cup will enter the decisive phase from New Year’s Day without German participation. “Today wasn’t my day. I don’t know, it didn’t go well from the start,” complained Pietreczko.
Despite the clap, however, the 30-year-old was somehow filled with pride. “In the end it doesn’t matter: I was in the round of 16 of the World Cup, nobody can take that away from me,” explained Pietreczko, who was only the second German to reach the round of the best 16 at Alexandra Palace after the 2023 semi-finalist Gabriel Clemens. The Nuremberg native has won his only title on the PDC Pro Tour so far at the German Darts Championship in 2023.
On Monday he was far from title-ready, averaging just 78.46 points to Aspinall’s 94.28. On the doubles fields, Pietreczko was only successful in 29 percent of the cases. After the game, his hard-hitting analysis followed: “Those weren’t the averages I’ve played so far, the double odds were underground.”
Now Pietreczko has to pack his bags. “It just depends on the day’s form, and today it didn’t go well,” he said. Nevertheless, a small declaration of war followed: “Next year it will be better again – if I get one round further every year, then we will soon have a new world champion,” explained Pietreczko with a smile. Last year, in his first World Cup participation, he was eliminated in the third round against eventual world champion Luke Humphries.