Ricardo Pietreczko is the name of the new German darts star. Starting from 63rd place in the tournament, the 28-year-old triumphed sensationally on the European Tour. Now even bigger tournaments await the man from Nuremberg, who didn’t even know before the tournament whether he could even compete.
“Germany has a new darts prodigy,” the British commentator shouted into the microphone late on Sunday evening when Ricardo Pietreczko achieved a masterpiece. The 28-year-old from Nuremberg sensationally wins the German Darts Championship, the last of 13 tournaments on the European Tour, the second highest tournament category on the field of the professional darts organization PDC.
The triumph of the new world number 53 is impressive and historic. Not only because it is only the second tournament victory for a German on the European Tour, but because Pietreczko is playing himself into an unprecedented double frenzy in the decisive phase of the tournament in Hildesheim. In the semifinals, “Pikachu”, as he is nicknamed, wins against three-time world champion and top star Michael van Gerwen. With the score at 6:6, the man from Nuremberg managed a 10-darter, on double 18 Pietreczko made it clear that he had narrowly won, and his star Dutch opponent no longer had a chance to win the game. Pietreczko hit all of the last six attempts on the eight millimeter narrow double fields, and in the end the statistics show a double rate of 77 percent. To put it into perspective: 30 percent are strong, 40 to 50 percent are world class, everything above that is almost inhumanly strong.
But Pietreczko went one better in the final against Wright. Each (!) of his eight attempts ended up in the double field, so that “Pikachu” literally dismantled the Scot with 8:4. A double rate of 100 percent in the final is something no tournament winner on the European Tour has ever achieved. Combined with the semifinal against van Gerwen, Pietreczko has hit 14 doubles in a row. “Wow, we’ve never seen a finish like this before,” commented British darts expert Richard Ashdown on X, formerly Twitter, about the incredible darts sensation.
“Participation was not entirely certain”
Pietreczko himself was visibly overwhelmed after the triumph in Hildesheim. When the decisive dart landed in the double 16 field, “Pikachu” was lying on the floor a short time later, his hands in front of his face. “It feels like a dream right now. I’ve often dreamed of winning a title up here. But I never thought it would actually happen.”
And actually winning the title is sensational because it comes so unexpectedly. Before the tournament, the German was ranked 63rd in the world. Although he had a strong year overall, he narrowly missed out on taking part in the World Matchplay and World Grand Prix. And mentally, Pietreczko was obviously not in the best condition. “In the days before Hildesheim, Ricardo wasn’t even entirely sure whether he would even take part in this tournament,” he revealed Manager Micha Wattenberg in conversation with ntv.de.
More of a loner on the tour
For Pietreczko, who was born in Berlin and lives in Nuremberg, the victory in “Halle 39” in Hildesheim is the current highlight of a career that has not always been linear. Pietreczko started playing darts as a youth player after his father gave him a dartboard. His talent and enormous hard work in training quickly became apparent, which also landed him in the German Super League, the largest PDC tournament series for German players. In 2015 he made it straight to the semi-finals, but in 2016 he dropped out of the Super League prematurely. He was then accused of carelessly throwing away a huge opportunity and preventing other players who would have had more motivation from taking part.
Because of the not always professional approach at the time, he had a tense relationship with PDC Europe, the organizer of the important tournament series, for years.
But that has now long been forgotten. Ever since Pietreczko made his breakthrough at the beginning of 2022 when he was able to secure the tour card and thus the right to play on the PDC professional tour, the 28-year-old has become an integral part of the German darts elite.
“Pikachu” certainly goes his own way on the professional circuit. He’s not the type of person who gets along well with everyone behind the scenes and often sits at the “German table” – together with the other stars of the local scene, such as World Cup semi-finalist Gabriel Clemens, Martin Schindler or Florian Hempel. “When I’m eliminated, I leave pretty quickly,” Pietreczko once told Sport1. “Unless it was a nice game, then I don’t care.”
Pushed aside self-doubt and moved on
Pietreczko had to digest many negative moments in the early stages of his career on the professional tour. In the first half of 2022, defeat after defeat followed. “The first half of the year was difficult for me. I also thought about whether I should give the tour ticket back because it was completely messing with my head. I lost quite a lot and actually always came home with a loss , but luckily I fought my way out of it,” Pietreczko said in an interview with the earlier this year Darts podcast “Checkout”.
And in fact the tide turned just at the moment when Pietreczko had all but given up. “Pikachu” turned up the heat, it was no longer enough to take part in the World Cup, but at the Players Championship Finals in November he sensationally eliminated the top seeded Australian Damon Heta from the tournament in the first round.
At the moment of the greatest victory on the ground with happiness: Ricardo Pietreczko
(Photo: PDC Europe/Jonas Hunold)
The current German number three was able to carry the momentum into the new year. “At the beginning of the year, the goal we set together was to keep the tour card. Qualifying for the World Cup early on was an absolute bonus. The fact that he is now the first German to win a PDC tournament live in front of TV cameras is unbelievable,” says Pietreczko’s manager Wattenberg.
Above all, his incredible strength on the doubles – third best rate of all 128 professionals this year – has brought him a lot of prize money in 2023. The equivalent of almost 85,000 euros ended up in the Nuremberg man’s account this year, with almost 35,000 euros alone for the triumph in Hildesheim.
Up to 14 hours of darts per day
Just a few years ago, Pietreczko was on the board for significantly smaller sums. There is hardly a player in Germany who spent so many hours a day playing darts, especially during the Corona period. Pietreczko sometimes played online tournaments for up to 14 hours a day, at most for a few hundred euros in prize money. Darts, sleep, darts, sleep. That was the typical daily routine in Ricardo Pietreczko’s life at this point.
After school, the now 28-year-old began training as a painter, but a short time later he put everything on darts. From then on, Pietreczko took part in every village tournament, no matter how small, in order to win money, but his financial worries have been gone for a year. The hard work in training and hours of tournaments and online sessions have paid off.
No more major tournaments without Pietreczko
After the sensational victory in Hildesheim, darts Germany is now rightly asking itself: Where can this lead? After all, Pietreczko has not only collected a lot of prize money and is moving further and further up the world rankings. The success also saw him qualify for the European Championship later this month and the Grand Slam of Darts in November. The first World Cup participation was already a long time ago and the World Matchplay and the World Grand Prix, the other mega events in the PDC calendar, will almost certainly not be able to do without the Nuremberg native next year.
“The hot phase is now beginning for Ricardo with a number of TV tournaments. I also have a lot of confidence in him at the World Cup and Ricardo can go a lot further in the future. I am still convinced that Ricardo will be the first will be a German who will win a major title at the PDC,” comments Wattenberg.
Many players have already proven that the European Tour can be a springboard to even greater success. Luke Humphries is the most recent example. The Englishman dominated the events last year and was able to secure his first major title at the World Grand Prix at the beginning of this year. But success is not a guarantee. This is shown by the example of Max Hopp. In 2018 he became the first German to win a European Tour event at the German Darts Open in Saarbrücken. But a steep fall followed. Hopp had a hard time meeting the expectations of an entire darts nation. The “Maximiser” is currently no longer on the PDC professional tour.
For Ricardo Pietreczko it will be about continuing to take one step at a time. Then the new “German darts prodigy” may one day become an established player among the world’s best.