Krzysztof Ratajski

Krzysztof Ratajski
Krzysztof Ratajski
	Ratajski in 2019
Personal information
Nickname	"The Polish Eagle"
Born	1 January 1977 (age 47); Skarżysko-Kamienna, Poland
Home town	Warsaw, Poland
Darts information
Playing darts since	1997
Darts	22g Bull's
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	"Whatever You Want" by Status Quo and "Zawsze do celu" by Najlepszy Przekaz w Mieście
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	2007–2017
PDC	2018– ; (Tour Card: 2019–)
WDF	2007–2017
Current world ranking	31 1 (24 November 2024)
WDF major events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Last 16: 2017
World Masters	Winner (1): 2017
World Trophy	Last 32: 2016
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Quarter Final: 2021
World Matchplay	Semi Final: 2021
World Grand Prix	Quarter Final: 2021
UK Open	Quarter Final: 2021
Grand Slam	Last 16: 2018, 2023
European Ch'ship	Last 16: 2023
PC Finals	Last 16: 2018
Masters	Last 16: 2022, 2024
World Series Finals	Semi Final: 2021
Other tournament wins
Czech Open	2009
Denmark Open	2008
Hungarian Classic	2016
Latvia Open	2010
Polish Open	2017
Polish Ch'ship	2009, 2016, 2019
PDC Challenge Tour	2018
German Darts Open	2023
Gibraltar Darts Trophy	2019
Players Championship (BAR)	2018 (x2), 2021
Players Championship (HIL)	2019
Players Championship (WIG)	2019, 2020, 2023
UK Open Qualifier	2018
Other achievements
	2023 Breaking the world record for match average for pairs competition in 2023 PDC World Cup of Darts.;
Medal record
Men's Darts
Representing Poland
EDF European Ch'ship
EDU European Ch'ship
SDWF European Ch'ship

Krzysztof Ratajski (Polish pronunciation: [ˈkʐɨʂtɔf raˈtajski]; born 1 January 1977) is a Polish professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. His biggest achievement to date was winning the 2017 World Masters. Ratajski has won 10 ranking titles on the PDC Pro Tour and has represented Poland at the PDC World Cup of Darts on numerous occasions. He is the most successful darts player to come from Poland. Together with Krzysztof Kciuk, he is the world record holder in pairs match average.

Career

Ratajski's first major run came in the 2007 Czech Open where he reached the semi-finals. He gained notable wins over Joey ten Berge and local player Marek Polak, eventually losing to Patrick Loos who won the tournament. He then went on to win the 2008 Denmark Open, defeating Hungary's Nándor Bezzeg, Finland's Marko Kantele and Belgian Geert De Vos en route to the final where he beat Fabian Roosenbrand.

On 4 December 2008 Ratajski qualified for the 2009 BDO World Darts Championship, earning one of five spots available. He earned notable wins over former qualifier Ian Jones and Mike Veitch before beating Robbie Green to qualify, becoming the first Polish player to qualify for either world championship. The next day, Ratajski took part in the 2008 Winmau World Masters, but lost in the very first round to Denmark's Stig Jorgensen. Ratajski then lost in the first round of the 2009 World Championship to Edwin Max.

Ratajski represented Poland in the inaugural PDC World Cup of darts in partnership with Krzysztof Kciuk. They lost 2–6 in the first round to New Zealand, who were represented by Phillip Hazel and Warren Parry. He did not feature in the tournament again until 2013, once more with Kciuk, and they progressed to the last 16 by finishing second in Group E thanks to beating Gibraltar 5–2.^[2] They played the host nation Germany, who were represented by Jyhan Artut and Andree Welge, and were defeated 5–2.^[3]

He lost in the semi-finals of the 2015 Polish Open 5–2 to Scott Waites.^[4] Ratajski made his European Tour debut at the 2015 European Darts Trophy and was edged out 6–5 by Adam Hunt in the first round.^[5] He was knocked out 3–2 by Martin Adams in the last 16 of the World Masters.^[6]

Ratajski played in the BDO World Trophy for the first time in 2016 and lost 6–4 to Scott Waites.^[7] He teamed up with Mariusz Paul at the 2016 PDC World Cup of Darts and they were defeated 5–1 by Belgium in the opening round.^[8] He qualified for the International Darts Open and was eliminated 6–1 by Chris Dobey in the first round.^[9]

Ratajski qualified for the 2017 BDO World Darts Championship. He earned his first two wins at the event, including a 3–0 victory over Wesley Harms, before narrowly losing to Darius Labanauskas in the last 16. At the 2017 World Cup, Ratajski and Tytus Kanik lost 5–3 in the first round to the Irish team of Mick McGowan and William O'Connor.^[10]

At the 2017 World Masters, Ratajski was unseeded and had to start from the first round. He defeated two-time reigning champion Glen Durrant in the quarter-finals, Scotland's Cameron Menzies in the semi-final, and world number one Mark McGeeney 6–1 in the final for his first televised major title. In doing so, Ratajski also guaranteed qualification for the 2018 BDO World Darts Championship, but declined his invitation in favour of an attempt to qualify for the rival 2018 PDC World Darts Championship.^[11] He qualified for the latter as the top ranked Eastern European on the PDC Pro Tour.^[12]

Ratajski competed in his first PDC premier event as a singles player at the 2017 European Championship. He lost 3–6 to Peter Wright in the first round. In the 2018 World Championship Ratajski lost 1–3 to James Wilson despite winning the first set.

2018

In January, Ratajski entered Q-School, but failed to gain a tour card. Ratajski played on the 2018 Challenge Tour. Ratajski made the final at event 8 and won event 14.^[13] Due to these successes, he was able to play some Players Championship events towards the end of 2018.

In February Ratajski became the first Polish player to win a PDC event, defeating Daryl Gurney 6–4 in the final of the sixth UK Open qualifier.^[14]

Ratajski won a Players Championship event on 20 October 2018, defeating Chris Dobey 6–2 in the final of Players Championship 21, despite not having a tour card.^[15] Ratajski also won Players Championship 22 the following day, joining an elite club of only 8 PDC players to win two Players Championship titles in a single weekend by beating Adrian Lewis 6–4.^[16] His weekend “double header” win secured him a place at the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship, where he lost to Seigo Asada. Ratajski also made the 2018 Players Championship Finals, where he beat Gerwyn Price and Adrian Lewis before losing to Danny Noppert, and the 2018 Grand Slam of Darts, where he was drawn in Group B. He defeated Raymond van Barneveld and Adam Smith-Neale and losing to Michael Smith, which meant that he went through to the last 16 stage where he lost to Jonny Clayton. Ratajski reached the top 64 on the PDC Order of Merit, which earned him a tour card for 2019.

2023

Ratajski received a qualifier for the 2023 PDC World Cup of Darts and for the fifth-time he represented Poland together with Krzysztof Kciuk. On the first day of the tournament, the Poles defeated the Portuguese team (Jose de Sousa and Luis Ameixa) with some difficulty by 4–3 in legs.^[17] In the second match of the group stage, the Poles faced the Lithuanian national team (Darius Labanauskas and Mindaugas Barauskas). The Poles defeated their rivals by 4–1 in legs, achieving the world record match average (118.10) of doubles matches.^[18]

World Championship results

BDO

2009: First round (lost to Edwin Max 2–3)
2017: Second round (lost to Darius Labanauskas 3–4)

PDC

2018: First round (lost to James Wilson 1–3)
2019: First round (lost to Seigo Asada 2–3)
2020: Third round (lost to Nathan Aspinall 3–4)
2021: Quarter-finals (lost to Stephen Bunting 3–5)
2022: Second round (lost to Steve Lennon 1–3)
2023: Third round (lost to Dimitri Van den Bergh 1–4)
2024: Third round (lost to Jonny Clayton 2–4)
2025: Ongoing

Performance timeline

PDC

Tournament	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
PDC World Championship	BDO								1R	1R	3R	QF	2R	3R	3R
UK Open	DNQ								5R	6R	4R	QF	4R	4R	5R
World Matchplay	Did not qualify									2R	QF	SF	2R	1R	2R
World Grand Prix	Did not qualify									1R	1R	QF	2R	2R	DNQ
European Championship	Did not qualify							1R	DNQ	1R	1R	1R	1R	2R	DNQ
Grand Slam of Darts	Did not qualify								2R	DNQ	RR	RR	DNQ	2R	DNQ
Players Championship Finals	Did not qualify								3R	2R	1R	2R	3R	1R	2R
Non-ranking televised events
The Masters	Did not qualify											1R	2R	1R	2R
PDC World Cup of Darts	1R	NH	DNQ	2R	DNQ		1R	1R	1R	2R	2R	2R	2R	2R	2R
World Series of Darts Finals	Not held					Did not qualify				QF	2R	SF	DNQ	2R	DNQ
Career statistics
Year-end ranking	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	79	55	20	14	12	20	24

PDC European Tour

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
2015	GDC DNP	GDT DNP	GDM DNP	DDM DNP	IDO DNP	EDO DNQ	EDT 1R	EDM DNQ	EDG DNP
2016	DDM DNP	GDM DNP	GDT DNQ	EDM DNQ	ADO DNP	EDO DNQ	IDO 1R	EDT DNQ	EDG DNQ	GDC DNQ
2017	GDC 2R	GDM 1R	GDO 2R	EDG 2R	GDT 2R	EDM 1R	ADO 1R	EDO 2R	DDM QF	GDG 2R	IDO DNQ	EDT 2R
2018	EDO DNQ	GDG 1R	GDO DNQ	ADO DNQ	EDG 1R	DDM 3R	GDT 1R	DDO 1R	EDM DNQ	GDC 2R	DDC DNQ	IDO DNQ	EDT 2R
2019	EDO 3R	GDC DNQ	GDG 2R	GDO DNQ	ADO DNQ	EDG 2R	DDM 2R	DDO 2R	CDO 1R	ADC DNQ	EDM QF	IDO 2R	GDT W
2020	BDC QF	GDC QF	EDG 2R	IDO QF
2021	HDT 2R	GDT QF
2022	IDO 2R	GDC 3R	GDG WD	ADO 3R	EDO 2R	CDO 2R	EDG 3R	DDC 2R	EDM 2R	HDT 2R	GDO QF	BDO DNQ	GDT DNQ
2023	BSD DNQ	EDO 2R	IDO DNQ	GDG DNP	ADO 2R	DDC 2R	BDO 1R	CDO DNQ	EDG QF	EDM DNQ	GDO W	HDT DNQ	GDC DNQ
2024	BDO 2R	GDG 2R	IDO 2R	EDG 2R	ADO 3R	BSD 2R	DDC DNQ	EDO 1R	GDC 3R	FDT 1R	HDT 1R	SDT 1R	CDO 2R

PDC Players Championships

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
2018	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	MIL DNP	MIL DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	WIG DNP	WIG DNP	MIL DNP	MIL DNP	WIG DNP	WIG DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	DUB 1R	DUB 1R	BAR W	BAR W
2019	WIG 2R	WIG 4R	WIG 2R	WIG 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 4R	WIG 4R	WIG 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 4R	BAR 4R	BAR 2R	BAR QF	BAR 4R	BAR 4R	WIG W	WIG SF	BAR 1R	BAR 4R	HIL W	HIL QF	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	DUB F	DUB 2R	BAR QF	BAR F
2020	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	WIG 4R	WIG W	WIG 3R	WIG SF	BAR QF	BAR DNP	MIL SF	MIL 3R	MIL 2R	MIL QF	MIL 3R	NIE QF	NIE 1R	NIE 1R	NIE 4R	NIE F	COV 3R	COV 1R	COV 1R	COV 2R	COV F
2021	BOL 4R	BOL 2R	BOL QF	BOL 2R	MIL 3R	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	MIL QF	NIE 1R	NIE 1R	NIE 4R	NIE 3R	MIL 1R	MIL 2R	MIL 3R	MIL 2R	COV 1R	COV 1R	COV 3R	COV 4R	BAR 4R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR QF	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 4R	BAR QF	BAR W
2022	BAR QF	BAR 2R	WIG 1R	WIG SF	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	NIE 4R	NIE 4R	BAR 4R	BAR 1R	BAR 4R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	WIG QF	WIG 1R	NIE QF	NIE 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 4R	BAR 3R	BAR 4R	BAR F	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 4R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R
2023	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	HIL SF	HIL F	WIG W	WIG 2R	LEI 2R	LEI 1R	HIL 2R	HIL 2R	LEI 1R	LEI 1R	HIL 3R	HIL 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 4R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	BAR 3R
2024	WIG 2R	WIG 2R	LEI 1R	LEI 3R	HIL 3R	HIL 2R	LEI 2R	LEI 1R	HIL SF	HIL SF	HIL DNP	HIL DNP	MIL 4R	MIL 1R	MIL QF	MIL 2R	MIL 1R	MIL 4R	MIL 1R	WIG 2R	WIG 1R	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	WIG QR	WIG 2R	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 4R	LEI 4R	LEI 1R

Career finals

BDO major finals: 1 (1 title)

Legend
Winmau World Masters (1–0)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score^{[N 1]}
Winner	1.	2017	Winmau World Masters	Mark McGeeney	6–1 (s)

References

^ "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 24 November 2024. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
^ "Betfair World Cup of Darts - Saturday Afternoon". PDC. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
^ "Betfair World Cup of Darts - Last 16". PDC. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
^ "2015 Polish Open Results". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 30 November 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
^ "European Darts Trophy Day One". PDC. Archived from the original on 13 September 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
^ "2015 World Masters Results". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 14 November 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
^ "2016 BDO World Trophy Results". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 30 November 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
^ "2016 PDC World Cup of Darts Results". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
^ "HappyBet International Darts Open Day One". PDC. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
^ "2017 PDC World Cup of Darts Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
^ "Gary Robson Invite to Lakeside World Pro 2018". BDO. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
^ "International Qualifiers Confirmed". PDC. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
^ "PDC Challenge Tour 14". DartConnect TV. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
^ Allen, Dave. "UK Open Qualifier 6". PDC. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
^ Allen, Dave (20 October 2018). "Relentless Ratajski's PC21 Glory". PDC.
^ Phillips, Josh (21 October 2018). "Double Joy For Ratajski". PDC.
^ "Poland pair Ratajski and Kciuk survive double woes as moustache maestro Dante stars for Italy to begin World Cup of Darts". Darts News. 15 June 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
^ "Poland produce record pairs average at World Cup of Darts with sensational 118.1". dartsnews.com. 16 June 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2023.

^ (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

External links

Krzysztof Ratajski player profile at Darts Orakel

[PDC_Rankings-1] "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 24 November 2024. Retrieved 24 November 2024.

[2] "Betfair World Cup of Darts - Saturday Afternoon". PDC. Retrieved February 2, 2013.

[3] "Betfair World Cup of Darts - Last 16". PDC. Retrieved 2 February 2013.

[4] "2015 Polish Open Results". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 30 November 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2016.

[5] "European Darts Trophy Day One". PDC. Archived from the original on 13 September 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2016.

[6] "2015 World Masters Results". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 14 November 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2016.

[7] "2016 BDO World Trophy Results". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 30 November 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2016.

[8] "2016 PDC World Cup of Darts Results". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.

[9] "HappyBet International Darts Open Day One". PDC. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.

[10] "2017 PDC World Cup of Darts Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 5 June 2017.

[11] "Gary Robson Invite to Lakeside World Pro 2018". BDO. Retrieved 14 October 2017.

[InternationQ-12] "International Qualifiers Confirmed". PDC. Retrieved 19 October 2017.

[13] "PDC Challenge Tour 14". DartConnect TV. Retrieved 8 September 2018.

[14] Allen, Dave. "UK Open Qualifier 6". PDC. Retrieved 12 February 2018.

[15] Allen, Dave (20 October 2018). "Relentless Ratajski's PC21 Glory". PDC.

[16] Phillips, Josh (21 October 2018). "Double Joy For Ratajski". PDC.

[17] "Poland pair Ratajski and Kciuk survive double woes as moustache maestro Dante stars for Italy to begin World Cup of Darts". Darts News. 15 June 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2023.

[18] "Poland produce record pairs average at World Cup of Darts with sensational 118.1". dartsnews.com. 16 June 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2023.

[score-19] (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

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