Wessel Nijman climbed to a career-high 14th in the PDC Werner Rankings Ladder following his Slovak Darts Open success on Sunday. Nijman stormed to an eighth PDC ranking title of 2026 to continue his imperious form in the sport, rising to 14th in the process and leapfrogging Ross Smith. The Dutchman holds over £550,000 to […]
Wessel Nijman climbed to a career-high 14th in the PDC Werner Rankings Ladder following his Slovak Darts Open success on Sunday.
Nijman stormed to an eighth PDC ranking title of 2026 to continue his imperious form in the sport, rising to 14th in the process and leapfrogging Ross Smith.
The Dutchman holds over £550,000 to his name on the two-year rolling world rankings, scooping the £35,000 top prize in Bratislava following his 8-3 victory over Rob Cross in the final to claim his second European Tour crown.
The 25-year-old has pocketed an incredible £246,000 since the World Masters at the beginning of February, a number of that can only be topped by Luke Littler’s £260,000 earnings.
Indeed, Nijman’s incredible return of eight ProTour titles in a PDC season is a feat only recorded by three other players in PDC history – Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen and Peter Wright – and there are still 18 ProTour events remaining in 2026.
Nijman’s rise to 14th has come as a pivotal time in the darting calendar, considering the seeding and format of the World Matchplay draw.
The infamous tournament at the Winter Gardens, which takes place from July 18-26, contains the world’s top 16 players seeded, drawn against the 16 top-performing players from the 12-month ProTour rankings.
If Nijman were to remain 14th in the world rankings following the conclusion of Players Championship 24 on July 7 – the cut-off point for World Matchplay qualification – it means that a potential round two match would be against world number three Gian van Veen, as opposed to world number two Luke Humphries.
Slovak Darts Open runner-up Cross returned to 20th in the world rankings – the position he occupied at the start of 2026 – following a stellar week of darting action.
Like Nijman, Cross claimed a Players Championship title in Wigan last week, triumphing at Players Championship 22 to bag £15,000.
The former World Champion received a paycheque of the same fee for reaching first European Tour final in over two years on Sunday, resultantly overtaking Mike De Decker and Damon Heta in the process.
Australian number one Heta, however, is struggling for form, falling two spots to 22nd in the world rankings.
The former UK Open semi-finalist fell at the first hurdle to Kevin Doets at the Slovak Darts Open, and despite reaching two semi-finals from nine European Tour events this year, Heta has failed to reach the quarter-finals in any Players Championship event in 2026.
Dave Chisnall has also dropped two spots in the world rankings to 27th, falling five places since the turn of the year.
An eight-time winner on the European Tour, Chisnall saw off Host Nation qualifier Adrian Dudek in a last-leg decider but lost to Jermaine Wattimena in round two, and was consequently overtaken by Andrew Gilding and Daryl Gurney.
Although Gurney lost out in round one to Jim Long, Andrew Gilding reached his third European Tour quarter-final of the year to rise to 25th in the world rankings.
The former UK Open champion has had a strong year, including his maiden ProTour title at Players Championship 16 in May, while only 13 players in the world have earned more than his £111,250 since the World Masters.
Michael Smith has dropped out of the world’s top 32 for the first time since 2013, sliding down one place to 33rd in the world after failing to qualify for the Slovak Darts Open.
The 2022/23 World Champion – who was world number one during 2023 – has failed to win a ranking title since May 2024, reaching just one final in that time period.
Although the 35-year-old reached the final of Players Championship 11 earlier this year, Smith has won just 13 matches across the other 18 events he has entered in 2026.
Tom Sykes rose a whopping eight places after a fantastic European Tour debut run to the semi-finals at the Slovak Darts Open.
Sykes earned his biggest payday of the year so far by taking home £10,000 for reaching the last four, and now stands at 82nd in the world.
The 33-year-old is now the third-highest ranked new Tour Card Holder, behind Spanish sensation Cristo Reyes in 76th and two-time Women’s World Matchplay champion Beau Greaves in 78th.