Ross Smith is riding the crest of a darting wave right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 37-year-old is arguably in the best form of his career and will arrive at the Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts, starting tomorrow, at a career-high of world number six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having stormed to victory in September\u2019s World Series of Darts Finals, Smith captured his second European Championship crown last month, becoming only the 14th<\/sup> player to win an individual PDC televised event on multiple occasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He is also the first player in PDC history to win each of his first three Premier event finals, and insists self-belief has been instrumental in his impressive ascension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI believe I can beat anybody,\u201d declared Smith, who will feature in his fifth Grand Slam of Darts campaign in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m also realistic enough to know that if I don\u2019t turn up and perform at my best I\u2019m going to get done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou don\u2019t win three televised titles for no reason, so I\u2019m feeling really good, and I definitely feel like one of the elite players.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nevertheless, Smith\u2019s road to darting stardom was not without its obstacles, after he briefly stepped away from the professional circuit in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Dover-born star subsequently relinquished his Tour Card, only to instantly reclaim his place on the ProTour in 2018 – sparking the start of his rebuild.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The newly-crowned European Champion has now established himself as one of the sport\u2019s premier players, winning 13 PDC titles since 2021, including his hat-trick of televised honours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI believe in myself, and years ago I probably didn\u2019t,\u201d conceded Smith, who made his first PDC appearance as a 16-year-old back in 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI suppose how do you believe in yourself when you\u2019re not winning anything?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWinning breeds confidence and I\u2019m playing with confidence, so life\u2019s good!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Smith\u2019s European Championship success placed him in exclusive company, as he joined Luke Littler and Luke Humphries as the only players to win multiple televised titles in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite averaging 107 in a high-quality quarter-final clash against Luke Woodhouse, Smith wasn\u2019t at his blistering best in Dortmund, yet his triumph was further illustration of the resilience he possesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s a strange one. I really don\u2019t think I played great,\u201d assessed Smith, who became the first top seed to win the European Championship since 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI had a really good game against Luke Woodhouse; I think a lot of players let me off as well, but sometimes you have to win ugly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m proud of doing that because you have got to dig deep. You have to really fight hard and I think I did that in Dortmund.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Smith\u2019s second European Championship crown catapulted him to sixth on the PDC Werner Rankings Ladder, as he climbed above the likes of James Wade, Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also finds himself just \u00a32,000 adrift of world number five Jonny Clayton, with further progress firmly within his sights ahead of an action-packed end to the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt feels absolutely brilliant [to be world number six]”,\u00a0continued the three-time TV title winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI would love to go a bit higher, so I\u2019m just going to keep knuckling down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s another three major [TV] tournaments coming up this year, so let\u2019s push forward and try and break into that top four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs a player I want to go as high as I can, but I\u2019ve lost in the first round at Ally Pally in the last two years, so I\u2019m not really defending anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Smith\u2019s unwavering belief is coupled with a refreshing humility that has been pivotal in his rise, and despite his recent success, he\u2019s refusing to let complacency become a factor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In four previous Grand Slam appearances, he\u2019s yet to progress beyond the last 16 at WV Active Aldersley, although he returns to the West Midlands a completely different proposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He will begin his campaign against Austria\u2019s Rusty-Jake Rodriguez on Saturday, with former World Championship semi-finalist Gabriel Clemens also awaiting him in Group O.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ll keep doing what I\u2019m doing,\u201d vowed the world number six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m loving the darts and I\u2019m enjoying playing in front of these amazing crowds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI take each game as it comes and play one game at a time. Every game I play is a final and I give it my all, and it\u2019s working for me at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ross Smith is riding the crest of a darting wave right now. The 37-year-old is arguably in the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-17661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-darts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t