James Wade made darts historical past on the Players Championship on Monday afternoon.
Wade defeated world no. 62 Lukas Wenig 6-1 in Leicester and within the course of wrote his title into the file books.
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The 42-year-old turned the first men’s player to win 1,000 matches on the PDC Pro Darts Circuit.
However, that was pretty much as good because it acquired on Monday for Wade as he suffered a shock 6-2 defeat to Cristo Reyes.
Reflecting on his milestone, Wade posted on social media: “Afternoon folks. Well that wasn’t the ending I wanted today but on a more positive note this did happen.
“After profitable my first sport at present I turned the first and solely participant to win 1,000 matches within the Players Championships Events.
“What an achievement and I feel really proud of that!! Thank you to all of you who support and follow me. Thank you to Sammi and the boys for always being there and thanks always to my management and sponsors!!
“Have an important Monday and I’ll be again on the oche tomorrow.”
‘The Machine’ broke onto the scene at the age of 14 when he won the Basingstoke Open in 1997.
And during his illustrious career, Wade has won in excess of 20 Players Championship titles.
Premier League snub
But despite Wade’s achievements in the game, he was still overlooked for the 2026 Premier League.
The decision to pass up on Wade, who won the three-month long tournament in 2009, means the experienced darts star hasn’t featured in the competition since 2022.
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Wade has previously spoken of his disappointment at missing out on the 2026 edition.
He even speculated to his wife over whether his weight played a part in a lack of Premier League action this year.
When pressed on whether he was disappointed about the Premier League snub, Wade said: “Of course, there’s solely three gamers that did higher than me [in 2025].
“So the statistics and stats don’t lie… I said to my wife, ‘Is it because I’m overweight?’ No, because there’s someone else that’s this size.
“‘Is it as a result of I’m previous?’, No, as a result of there’s another person that is there, ‘Is it as a result of I’m not nice wanting?’, No, as a result of there’s some others which might be not-so-great wanting.
“So it’s just obviously the way I am, I’m quite awkward as a character.
“It’s laborious to chew when you might have the condition that I have [Bipolar disorder] as it is a full kick within the privates and actually knocks your confidence.
“It knocks you for six, as there’s no apparent reason why I shouldn’t have been in.
“But as a enterprise, I wasn’t of their mannequin, which is honest sufficient. But for somebody with psychological sickness, it is fairly laborious to chew.”
Wade continued: “It shouldn’t have to be the place somebody has to decide you.
“It should be where you do enough, and I believe I did enough.
“I did greater than anybody else, other than the highest three or 4.”
