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Krzysztof Ratajski

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Krzysztof Ratajski
Ratajski in 2019
Personal information
Nickname"The Polish Eagle"
Born (1977-01-01) 1 January 1977 (age 47)
Skarżysko-Kamienna, Poland
Home townWarsaw, Poland
Darts information
Playing darts since1997
Darts22g Bull's
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on music"Whatever You Want" by Status Quo and "Zawsze do celu" by Najlepszy Przekaz w Mieście
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO2007–2017
PDC2018–
(Tour Card: 2019-)
WDF2007–2017
Current world ranking30 Increase 1 (31 October 2024)[1]
WDF major events – best performances
World Ch'shipLast 16: 2017
World MastersWinner (1): 2017
World TrophyLast 32: 2016
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'shipQuarter-final: 2021
World MatchplaySemi-final: 2021
World Grand PrixQuarter-final: 2021
UK OpenQuarter-final: 2021
Grand SlamLast 16: 2018, 2023
European Ch'shipLast 16: 2023
PC FinalsLast 16: 2018
MastersLast 16: 2022, 2024
World Series FinalsSemi-final: 2021
Other tournament wins
Czech Open 2009
Denmark Open 2008
Hungarian Classic 2016
Latvia Open 2010
Polish Open 2017
Polish Ch'ship 2009, 2016, 2019
PDC Challenge Tour 2018
PDC European Tour
Eastern European Qualifier
2017 (x11), 2018 (x7)

European Tour Events

German Darts Open 2023
Gibraltar Darts Trophy 2019

Players Championships

Players Championship (BAR) 2018 (x2), 2021
Players Championship (HIL) 2019
Players Championship (WIG) 2019, 2020, 2023

UK Open Qualifiers

UK Open Qualifier 2018
Other achievements
Medal record
Men's Darts
Representing  Poland
EDF European Ch'ship
Gold medal – first place 2017 Podčetrtek Men's cricket
Gold medal – first place 2019 Podčetrtek Men's cricket
Silver medal – second place 2018 Podčetrtek Men's cricket
EDU European Ch'ship
Gold medal – first place 2003 Salou Men's cricket
Gold medal – first place 2008 Caorle Men's singles
Silver medal – second place 2002 St. Johann Men's singles
Silver medal – second place 2002 St. Johann Men's cricket
Silver medal – second place 2005 Sopron Men's cricket
Silver medal – second place 2006 Umag Men's singles
Bronze medal – third place 2004 Hamburg Men's singles
SDWF European Ch'ship
Gold medal – first place 2005 Lloret de Mar Men's singles

Krzysztof Ratajski (Polish pronunciation: [ˈkʐɨʂtɔf raˈtajski]; born 1 January 1977) is a Polish professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. His biggest achievement to date was winning the 2017 World Masters. Ratajski also plays on the Professional Darts Corporation's ProTour and has represented Poland at the PDC World Cup of Darts on numerous occasions. He is the most successful darts player to come from Poland. Together with Krzysztof Kciuk, he is the world record holder in pairs match average.

Career

[edit]

Ratajski's first major run came in the 2007 Czech Open where he reached the semi-finals. He gained notable wins over Joey ten Berge and local player Marek Polak, eventually losing to Patrick Loos who won the tournament. He then went on to win the 2008 Denmark Open, defeating Hungary's Nándor Bezzeg, Finland's Marko Kantele and Belgian Geert De Vos en route to the final where he beat Fabian Roosenbrand.

On 4 December 2008 Ratajski qualified for the 2009 BDO World Darts Championship, earning one of five spots available. He earned notable wins over former qualifier Ian Jones and Mike Veitch before beating Robbie Green to qualify, becoming the first Polish player to qualify for either world championship. The next day, Ratajski took part in the 2008 Winmau World Masters, but lost in the very first round to Denmark's Stig Jorgensen. Ratajski then lost in the first round of the 2009 World Championship to Edwin Max.

Ratajski represented Poland in the inaugural PDC World Cup of darts in partnership with Krzysztof Kciuk. They lost 2–6 in the first round to New Zealand, who were represented by Phillip Hazel and Warren Parry. He did not feature in the tournament again until 2013, once more with Kciuk, and they progressed to the last 16 by finishing second in Group E thanks to beating Gibraltar 5–2.[2] They played the host nation Germany, who were represented by Jyhan Artut and Andree Welge, and were defeated 5–2.[3]

He lost in the semi-finals of the 2015 Polish Open 5–2 to Scott Waites.[4] Ratajski made his European Tour debut at the 2015 European Darts Trophy and was edged out 6–5 by Adam Hunt in the first round.[5] He was knocked out 3–2 by Martin Adams in the last 16 of the World Masters.[6]

Ratajski played in the BDO World Trophy for the first time in 2016 and lost 6–4 to Scott Waites.[7] He teamed up with Mariusz Paul at the 2016 PDC World Cup of Darts and they were defeated 5–1 by Belgium in the opening round.[8] He qualified for the International Darts Open and was eliminated 6–1 by Chris Dobey in the first round.[9]

Ratajski qualified for the 2017 BDO World Darts Championship. He earned his first two wins at the event, including a 3–0 victory over Wesley Harms, before narrowly losing to Darius Labanauskas in the last 16. At the 2017 World Cup, Ratajski and Tytus Kanik lost 5–3 in the first round to the Irish team of Mick McGowan and William O'Connor.[10]

At the 2017 World Masters, Ratajski was unseeded and had to start from the first round. He defeated two-time reigning champion Glen Durrant in the quarter-finals, Scotland's Cameron Menzies in the semi-final, and world number one Mark McGeeney 6–1 in the final for his first televised major title. In doing so, Ratajski also guaranteed qualification for the 2018 BDO World Darts Championship, but declined his invitation in favour of an attempt to qualify for the rival 2018 PDC World Darts Championship.[11] He qualified for the latter as the top ranked Eastern European on the PDC Pro Tour.[12]

Ratajski competed in his first PDC premier event as a singles player at the 2017 European Championship. He lost 3–6 to Peter Wright in the first round. In the 2018 World Championship Ratajski lost 1–3 to James Wilson despite winning the first set.

2018

[edit]

In January, Ratajski entered Q-School, but failed to gain a tour card. Ratajski played on the 2018 Challenge Tour. Ratajski made the final at event 8 and won event 14.[13] Due to these successes, he was able to play some Players Championship events towards the end of 2018.

In February Ratajski became the first Polish player to win a PDC event, defeating Daryl Gurney 6–4 in the final of the sixth UK Open qualifier.[14]

Ratajski won a Players Championship event on 20 October 2018, defeating Chris Dobey 6–2 in the final of Players Championship 21, despite not having a tour card.[15] Ratajski also won Players Championship 22 the following day, joining an elite club of only 8 PDC players to win two Players Championship titles in a single weekend by beating Adrian Lewis 6–4.[16] His weekend “double header” win secured him a place at the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship, where he lost to Seigo Asada. Ratajski also made the 2018 Players Championship Finals, where he beat Gerwyn Price and Adrian Lewis before losing to Danny Noppert, and the 2018 Grand Slam of Darts, where he was drawn in Group B. He defeated Raymond van Barneveld and Adam Smith-Neale and losing to Michael Smith, which meant that he went through to the last 16 stage where he lost to Jonny Clayton. Ratajski reached the top 64 on the PDC Order of Merit, which earned him a tour card for 2019.

2023

[edit]

Ratajski received a qualifier for the 2023 PDC World Cup of Darts and for the fifth-time he represented Poland together with Krzysztof Kciuk. On the first day of the tournament, the Poles defeated the Portuguese team (Jose de Sousa and Luis Ameixa) with some difficulty by 4–3 in legs.[17] In the second match of the group stage, the Poles faced the Lithuanian national team (Darius Labanauskas and Mindaugas Barauskas). The Poles defeated their rivals by 4–1 in legs, achieving the world record match average (118.10) of doubles matches.[18]

World Championship results

[edit]

BDO

[edit]

PDC

[edit]

Performance timeline

[edit]

PDC

Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
PDC World Championship BDO 1R 1R 3R QF 2R 3R 3R
UK Open DNQ 5R 6R 4R QF 4R 4R 5R
World Matchplay Did not qualify 2R QF SF 2R 1R 2R
World Grand Prix Did not qualify 1R 1R QF 2R 2R DNQ
European Championship Did not qualify 1R DNQ 1R 1R 1R 1R 2R DNQ
Grand Slam of Darts Did not qualify 2R DNQ RR RR DNQ 2R DNQ
Players Championship Finals Did not qualify 3R 2R 1R 2R 3R 1R
Non-ranking televised events
The Masters Did not qualify 1R 2R 1R 2R
PDC World Cup of Darts 1R NH DNQ 2R DNQ 1R 1R 1R 2R 2R 2R 2R 2R 2R
World Series of Darts Finals Not held Did not qualify QF 2R SF DNQ 2R DNQ
Career statistics
Year-end ranking 79 55 20 14 12 20 24

PDC European Tour

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

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
2018 BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
MIL
DNP
MIL
DNP
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
WIG
DNP
WIG
DNP
MIL
DNP
MIL
DNP
WIG
DNP
WIG
DNP
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
DUB
1R
DUB
1R
BAR
W
BAR
W
2019 WIG
2R
WIG
4R
WIG
2R
WIG
1R
BAR
3R
BAR
4R
WIG
4R
WIG
2R
BAR
1R
BAR
2R
BAR
4R
BAR
4R
BAR
2R
BAR
QF
BAR
4R
BAR
4R
WIG
W
WIG
SF
BAR
1R
BAR
4R
HIL
W
HIL
QF
BAR
3R
BAR
3R
BAR
2R
BAR
2R
DUB
F
DUB
2R
BAR
QF
BAR
F
2020 BAR
1R
BAR
2R
WIG
4R
WIG
W
WIG
3R
WIG
SF
BAR
QF
BAR
DNP
MIL
SF
MIL
3R
MIL
2R
MIL
QF
MIL
3R
NIE
QF
NIE
1R
NIE
1R
NIE
4R
NIE
F
COV
3R
COV
1R
COV
1R
COV
2R
COV
F
2021 BOL
4R
BOL
2R
BOL
QF
BOL
2R
MIL
3R
MIL
1R
MIL
1R
MIL
QF
NIE
1R
NIE
1R
NIE
4R
NIE
3R
MIL
1R
MIL
2R
MIL
3R
MIL
2R
COV
1R
COV
1R
COV
3R
COV
4R
BAR
4R
BAR
1R
BAR
1R
BAR
QF
BAR
3R
BAR
3R
BAR
1R
BAR
4R
BAR
QF
BAR
W
2022 BAR
QF
BAR
2R
WIG
1R
WIG
SF
BAR
1R
BAR
1R
NIE
4R
NIE
4R
BAR
4R
BAR
1R
BAR
4R
BAR
1R
BAR
3R
WIG
QF
WIG
1R
NIE
QF
NIE
1R
BAR
1R
BAR
4R
BAR
3R
BAR
4R
BAR
F
BAR
1R
BAR
2R
BAR
4R
BAR
1R
BAR
1R
BAR
2R
BAR
3R
BAR
2R
2023 BAR
1R
BAR
3R
BAR
3R
BAR
3R
BAR
3R
BAR
2R
HIL
SF
HIL
F
WIG
W
WIG
2R
LEI
2R
LEI
1R
HIL
2R
HIL
2R
LEI
1R
LEI
1R
HIL
3R
HIL
1R
BAR
1R
BAR
2R
BAR
2R
BAR
3R
BAR
4R
BAR
1R
BAR
1R
BAR
2R
BAR
1R
BAR
2R
BAR
2R
BAR
3R
2024 WIG
2R
WIG
2R
LEI
1R
LEI
3R
HIL
3R
HIL
2R
LEI
2R
LEI
1R
HIL
SF
HIL
SF
HIL
DNP
HIL
DNP
MIL
4R
MIL
1R
MIL
QF
MIL
2R
MIL
1R
MIL
4R
MIL
1R
WIG
2R
WIG
1R
MIL
1R
MIL
1R
WIG
QR
WIG
2R
WIG
1R
WIG
1R
WIG
4R
LEI
4R
LEI
1R

Career finals

[edit]

BDO major finals: 1 (1 title)

[edit]
Legend
Winmau World Masters (1–0)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score[N 1]
Winner 1. 2017 Winmau World Masters England Mark McGeeney 6–1 (s)

References

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  1. ^ "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 31 October 2024. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
  2. ^ "Betfair World Cup of Darts - Saturday Afternoon". PDC. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
  3. ^ "Betfair World Cup of Darts - Last 16". PDC. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  4. ^ "2015 Polish Open Results". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 30 November 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  5. ^ "European Darts Trophy Day One". PDC. Archived from the original on 13 September 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  6. ^ "2015 World Masters Results". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 14 November 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  7. ^ "2016 BDO World Trophy Results". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 30 November 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  8. ^ "2016 PDC World Cup of Darts Results". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  9. ^ "HappyBet International Darts Open Day One". PDC. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  10. ^ "2017 PDC World Cup of Darts Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  11. ^ "Gary Robson Invite to Lakeside World Pro 2018". BDO. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  12. ^ "International Qualifiers Confirmed". PDC. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  13. ^ "PDC Challenge Tour 14". DartConnect TV. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  14. ^ Allen, Dave. "UK Open Qualifier 6". PDC. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  15. ^ Allen, Dave (20 October 2018). "Relentless Ratajski's PC21 Glory". PDC.
  16. ^ Phillips, Josh (21 October 2018). "Double Joy For Ratajski". PDC.
  17. ^ "Poland pair Ratajski and Kciuk survive double woes as moustache maestro Dante stars for Italy to begin World Cup of Darts". Darts News. 15 June 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  18. ^ "Poland produce record pairs average at World Cup of Darts with sensational 118.1". dartsnews.com. 16 June 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  1. ^ (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.
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