Adrian Lewis

Adrian Lewis
Personal information
Full name	Adrian Lewis
Nickname	Jackpot
Born
Home town	Stoke-on-Trent
Darts information
Playing darts since	2003
Darts	22g Unicorn Maestro 'Adrian Lewis'
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	Reach Up (Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag) by Perfecto Allstarz
Organisation (see split in darts)
PDC	2003 - present
Current world ranking	9
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Quarter-finals 2006, 2008, 2010
World Matchplay	Semi-finals 2007
World Grand Prix	Runner-up 2010
UK Open	Quarter-finals 2006
Grand Slam	Second round 2007
European Ch'ship	Runner-up 2008
Premier League	Semi-finals 2008
Ch'ship League	Initial groups, Runner-up 2008
Desert Classic	Last 16 2008
PC Finals	Quarter Final 2010
Other tournament wins
Tournament	Years
British Teenage Champs Chris de Roo Open Holland PDPA Players Championship UK Open Scottish Regional Final	2002 2004 2005, 2006 2005
Updated on 17 February 2008.

Adrian Lewis (born 21 January 1985 in Stoke-on-Trent) is a darts player for the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) who is ranked ninth in the PDC Order of Merit. He made his television debut in 2004, aged 19 at the UK Open. He uses the nickname Jackpot for his matches. The nickname derives from the fact that whilst competing in the 2005 Las Vegas Desert Classic he won a £75,000 jackpot in a casino but was unable to collect his winnings because, despite being eligible in the UK, he was under-age by US gaming laws.

Lewis is a protégé of multi-world champion Phil Taylor having practised together in their home city Stoke-on-Trent. Taylor and Lewis amicably went their separate ways after the 2007 World Championship.

Darts career

Lewis reached a regional final for the UK Open in 2003, which helped him qualify to make his television debut at the 2004 UK Open in Bolton, where he narrowly lost his last 64 match to Dennis Harbour. His next television appearance came against his mentor Taylor at the 2004 Las Vegas Desert Classic where he went out 0-2 in the first round. He then went on to win his first match on television at the 2004 World Grand Prix beating former world champion Richie Burnett.

He failed to qualify for the 2005 PDC World Championships but back at Bolton for the UK Open he produced one of the rare whitewashes in the tournament history, beating Colin Monk 11-0 before falling to Chris Mason in the last 16. His World Matchplay debut came in 2005 and reached the quarter-finals before losing to Colin Lloyd.

Shortly after the World Matchplay, Lewis was given sponsorship by darts manufacturer Unicorn, who would go on to create a signature dart for Lewis. "It came as a huge surprise that the most famous and biggest darts manufacturer in the world wanted me on board. To say it is an honour is an understatement!" Lewis revealed.

In November 2005, Lewis became only the second man - after Taylor - to win both the Scotland PDPA Players Championship and the UK Open Scottish Regional in the same weekend.

Major Breakthrough

He didn't make his World Championship debut until 2006 and reached the quarter-finals, losing a dramatic match 5-3 to Peter Manley. Lewis had beaten former world champion Dennis Priestley and number four seed Roland Scholten and began to raise prospects of a possible final clash against Taylor before Manley ended his hopes in a controversial match. Lewis decided to leave the stage part-way through the match as he alleged Manley had been trying to upset him whilst he was throwing.

Lewis, along with the 15 other PDC players in the top 16, competed against 16 American qualifiers in the World Series of Darts. This tournament took place in May 2006 and was broadcast on ESPN. Lewis' performance in this tournament has made others refer to him as a major threat in years to come. He beat Lloyd, Denis Ovens and Priestley before falling in the final to Taylor.

Lewis' form continued to rise as he progressed to the quarter-finals of the UK Open in 2006. He beat Wayne Mardle 11-10 in the last 16, although was beaten by John MaGowan 11-8 in the next stage. Later in 2006 he also progressed to the last 16 of the World Matchplay before being knocked out by Hamilton. He reached the same stage of the World Grand Prix in October before being knocked out by Priestley.

In the 2007 PDC World Championship, Lewis reached the last 16 stage. After the World Championship Lewis was awarded the last place in the 2007 Premier League, the prestigious tournament for eight top PDC players. Having missed out on automatic qualification, tournament broadcasters Sky Sports awarded him their wildcard. Lewis lost his debut Premier League match against Raymond van Barneveld 8-5, but went on to win his next two matches against Manley and Lloyd winning 8-4 and 8-5 respectively.

Lewis was in the 2007 International Darts League and was knocked out in the Semi-Final to Gary Anderson (darts player). He was the final PDC player left in the League after James Wade and van Barneveld were knocked out in the Quarter-Finals.

After defeating van Barneveld by 16 legs to 14 in the quarter finals of the 2007 World Matchplay in Blackpool, he lost to fellow Englishman Wade 17-7 in the semi finals. Lewis also suffered a disappointing Premier League event at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre on 3 April 2008, losing both matches to Wade and Taylor, 8-1 and 8-3 respectively.

At the 2008 European Darts Championship, Lewis played his first-round match against Hannes Schnier with three plasters on his non-throwing hand - having attempted to catch a falling glass backstage but shattered in his hand. After winning the match 5-2, Lewis was taken to hospital for checks on two deep cuts. Lewis went on to beat Ovens 9-5 in the 2nd round, before producing arguably the best performance of his career with a 9-2 victory over van Barneveld in the quarter-finals. An 11-7 victory over Manley set up a final with Taylor. Lewis lost 11-5 but his performance in the tournament guaranteed him a place in the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts.

Lewis was eliminated in the group stages of the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts, losing 5-2 to Ovens before defeating an out-of-form Niels de Ruiter 5-0. His elimination was confirmed with a 5-3 defeat to Wade.

2009

Lewis had a relatively unsuccessful World Championships in 2009, losing in the second round to surprise package Paul Nicholson of Australia. More recently however, Lewis has found some form reaching the final of the Saturday event at the German Darts Classic Players Championship events held in Gladbeck. He ultimately lost to world number one, Phil Taylor 6-0 in the final.

The following day, Lewis reached the final of the Sunday event in Gladbeck but once again lost to Taylor, this time by 6 legs to 1. Lewis reached the quarter final of the Las Vegas dessert classic before losing to James Wade 10-6. Lewis reached the quarter final of the world matchplay in Blackpool beating Co stompe 10-7 and colin lloyd 13-5 before losing to taylor 16-3.

Lewis claimed his first pro tour victory in almost 3 years on the 5th of September by beating Carlos Rodriguez 6-4 in the Austrian Open Players Championship. He did so in hitting a 9 darter in the final after winning the match Lewis dedicated the victory to his first daughter Myla Niamh. Lewis followed up his win in Austria by winning the Irish Open Players Championship beating Andy Hamilton in the final by 6 legs to 4. Lewis went into the world grand prix on a high and beat Robert Thornton by 2 set to 0 in the first round. Victory meant Lewis had to play Gary Anderson in the second round and during the first set the duo exchanged words after Anderson felt lewis went into the exclusion zone while Anderson was throwing, however Lewis put the incident behind him and won the match 3 sets to 2 including 167, 140, and 126 checkouts along the way after beating Anderson, Lewis progressed on to play Phil Taylor in the quarter finals. Taylor went on to win the match by 4 sets to 0.

2010

Lewis reached the quarter finals of the 2010 PDC World Darts Championship. He was beaten by Phil Taylor by 5 sets to 0 in a highly anticipated encounter. Lewis had been in fine form throughout the tournament but was unable to beat Taylor.

Adrian was awarded with the PDC Wildcard for the 2010 Premier League Darts. After 14 league nights he finished in 7th place.

Adrian claimed his first PDC ProTour win of 2010 by winning the German Darts Classic Players Championship. He came from 4-3 down to beat Mark Walsh 6-4 in the final to claim the £6,000 first prize on offer in Gladbeck.

Lewis reached the quarter finals of the 2010 UK Open. He was beaten by Phil Taylor 10-2.

Lewis lost in the first round of the 2010 World Matchplay Darts 11-9 to Mark Webster. A week later, Lewis also lost to Wayne Jones in the first round of the 2010 European Championship Darts in Germany 6-3.

Lewis won his second Pro Tour title 2010 on September 4 in Crawley, defeating Steve Farmer 6-4 in the final.

Lewis reached the final of the 2010 World Grand Prix, defeating Alan Tabern, Terry Jenkins, and Wayne Jones, before claiming his first victory against Phil Taylor on television. He lost 6-3 to James Wade, in an ill-tempered and controversial match which saw Lewis accuse Wade of putting off his throw, by "stamping" on the oche. The pair exchaged a brief handshake, which Wade appeared to look relunctant about. Lewis had been involved in an incident with Taylor, just 24 hours earlier, during their semi-final match, where Taylor accused Lewis of playing up to the crowd to put him off.

Ranking and earnings

Lewis is currently ranked ninth in the PDC Order of Merit - the PDC's world ranking system. He had been ranked sixth before the 2009 PDC World Championship, which would have been enough to give him automatic qualification for the 2009 Premier League, however his second round exit and Mervyn King's run to the semi-final allowed King to steal the final automatic spot. He was not awarded a wildcard placing, instead those were given to Mardle and Jelle Klaasen.

World Championship Results

• 2006: Quarter-Finals (lost to Peter Manley 3-5)
• 2007: Third Round (lost to Andy Jenkins 3-4)
• 2008: Quarter-Finals (lost to Kevin Painter 2-5)
• 2009: Second Round (lost to Paul Nicholson 3-4)
• 2010: Quarter-Finals (lost to Phil Taylor 0-5)

External links

• PDC official website
• Adrian Lewis official website
• Lewis profile
• Adrian Lewis' profile and stats on Darts Database