World Cup missed, now Wonderland
Former darts star “Maximiser” Hopp continues to fall mercilessly
November 10, 2023, 11:28 a.m
Max Hopp once made his debut at the Darts World Cup at the age of 16, but that was a long time ago. Eleven years later, the German is far from the world’s best and the World Cup will take place without him. For him, however, another tournament in the near future is more important than a World Cup ticket.
For the former German darts leader Max Hopp, the year 2023 ends with another sporting disappointment. In the Super League, in which a ticket for the World Cup in London (December 15th to January 3rd) is being played, Hopp lost 3:6 in the round of 16 against the rather unknown Kai Gotthardt.
After 2022 and 2023, the “Maximiser” will not be at Alexandra Palace for the third time in a row. The times when Hopp was the German number one are long gone. For the 27-year-old, the World Cup would have been a kind of bonus after a very weak season. What is more important for Hopp, according to his own statements, is that he will win back a tour card in January at the so-called Q-School in Wunderland in Kalkar, a nuclear power plant in the Lower Rhine region that has never been connected to the grid, so that he can play more highly prized and important tournaments in the future.
Prize money is negligible
His reality on the second-tier Challenge Tour currently sounds like this: “You first play three games for nothing and then for 75 pounds – you have to find your way around that. It’s not about the prize money, it’s just about winning.” But that doesn’t work anymore either. Hopp leads the second league of darts in 60th place in the rankings, completely behind and with prize money of 1,675 pounds (less than 2,000 euros).
What does that do to an athlete who made his debut at London’s Alexandra Palace at the age of 16 and once bluntly declared the world title as his goal? “I feel that I can fight my way back up. I feel that, I’m really up for it again. I see it as a challenge and not as relegation to the second league,” said the 27-year-old Hopp earlier this week.
Before the final day of the German Super League, three Germans had already qualified for the World Cup: World Cup semi-finalists Gabriel Clemens, Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko.