Although Rob Cross will always walk into Alexandra Palace with the pressure of being a former champion on his shoulders, it is not something he spends time focusing on at the Worlds.
Cross shocked the darting world back in 2018 when, on his debut at the Palace, he walked away as champion after defeating Phil Taylor 7-2 just 11 months after turning professional.
He has since cemented himself as one of the world’s top players and goes into the 2024/25 tournament as world no 4 on the PDC Order of Merit and in form.
With such a momentous win on his CV in a tournament he always does well in, Cross heads into the Worlds each year as one of the top names being talked about.
But rather than seeing his former triumph as an added layer of pressure, Cross prefers to see it as motivation that if he has won this whole thing once before, there is no reason why he can’t do it again.
“I think there’s a big difference with winning stuff anyway, just in general, it’s always nice to know that you can win something,” Cross said.
“Because when you haven’t done it, when you haven’t done it or you haven’t won it and you’re saying to yourself, well, I hope I can win it.
“But at the same time it does get frustrating when you don’t win it again.
“So, I’ve had about a six or seven-year drought now and I sort of need to change that at some point.
“I think the Worlds was the hardest one for me because whoever’s been world champion never wants to give it back and I get that, but I understand that.
“But do I find generally defending stuff or anything like that, it doesn’t even enter my brain. I’m not that much of a thinker to be honest.
“You’re always better to win the titles than have them, but at the same time, you shouldn’t think from two years ago with money or a year ago or whatever, going in there to defend it and looking at it like that, it’s just extra pressure.
“I’ll go in there and I’ll probably look at it as a positive and I’ll think to myself, well I’ve won it once so I can win it again instead of making a negative.
“Pressure’s man-made and it’s never a good thing, is it?”
Although Cross doesn’t like to put extra pressure on himself, there is always the motivation that one day he would like to be announced as the two-time world champion.
“I think the overall picture I always set myself out and I go I want to win every tournament that I go into because obviously that’s just mentality but at the same time I’m just game by game, literally as they come and they seem to come thick and fast,” he added.
“Just game by game and literally just look to the end of my nose pretty much, just not look any further than that.
“Touch wood, I never really play a bad game there, I really enjoy it, I love it, it’s just one of them places I walk in with all the memories and other stuff that I’ve had there, I will always love the place even if I wasn’t playing.
“If you’re going to play your best darts and if you can play your best darts, that’s where you want to do it.
“I want to win the whole thing, I want to be announced two-time world champion. At the same time, it’ll just be one game at a time, you know, I think it’s one of them places where it’s the biggest tournament in the world and everyone raises their game.”
Cross on THAT Littler match: ‘He is amazing for the game’
Back in the 2023/24 tournament, Cross provided darts fans with some epic moments and matches, ‘Voltage’ involved in a semi-final for the ages against a certain Luke Littler on his debut.
Littler averaged 106.05, hitting 16 maximums and ton-plus finishes of 149, 142 and 132 en route to a magnificent 6-2 victory and Cross, now able to look at the bigger picture, sees how “amazing” that run was for the game.
“To be honest, look, we’re all born trying to be winners and stuff like that but it’s not nice when you lose,” Cross said.
“But look at the bigger picture, you know, the boy and what Luke’s gone on to achieve after that is nothing short of amazing.
“I’m not a jealous person away from darts or looking in. I suppose I’ll go up there, I’m a competitor and I want to win when I’m up there but when you come off, I look at him, I just think he’s been amazing. He is amazing for the game too.”
While Cross will be a favourite again this year, there has been a lot of shocks and upsets in darts in 2024 and the world No 4 is not ruling out more happening at Ally Pally.
“I just think darts now, if you took it back ten years ago you could probably pick three people that could win a tournament or four if you were being generous,” Cross added.
“Now all of a sudden, you’re looking at it and you’ve probably got, I don’t know, out of 32 you’ve got a definite 24 and you can probably write off the other eight.
“So, I think that’s good for a watcher, I think for the people looking in and watching at home.”
When will the World Darts Championship take place?
The tournament gets under way at Alexandra Palace on Sunday December 15, with three first-round matches and one second-round match on the opening evening.
There will be live darts over each of the following eight days, including seven afternoon sessions, with the usual three-day break from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day before returning with the third round and a double session on December 27.
The third and fourth rounds will be completed by December 30 before a night off on New Year’s Eve, with the quarter-finals held across two sessions on New Year’s Day ahead of the semi-finals on January 2 and the final on Friday January 3.
The full day-by-day schedule for this year’s tournament can be found here.
Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every match exclusively live from December 15-January 3 on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel. Stream darts and more top sport with NOW.
