‘I’ve battled bi-polar – now I’m ready to spoil Luke Littler’s World Championship party’ | Other | Sport

James Wade knows what it’s like to be the new kid on the block.

In 2007, he became the youngest-ever winner of a major PDC title when he won the World Matchplay.

But 11 major tournament triumphs almost two decades later, the biggest prize in darts still evades Wade.

Which is why, on the eve of the World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace, The Machine is ready to spoil teenage sensation and competition favourite Luke Littler’s party and lift his maiden Sid Waddell trophy.

“I am. I am, yeah. I want to,” a wide-eyed Wade replied when asked by Express Sport if he is ready to win the World Championship.

He’s come bitterly close in the past. Heading into the 2025 edition of dart’s most prestigious tournament, Wade has made it to the semi-finals on four different occasions. Not once has he ever contested an Ally Pally final.

“The problem is with the World Championship, it’s a long time and it’s quite a few appearances for me to have a straight head. The last two TV tournaments I’ve been in I’ve been distracted.”

To the lesser-versed, that may seem like a fairly inoffensive assessment of his own game. After all, darts is an individual sport and being in the right headspace is paramount to success.

But for Wade, who has been diagnosed with ADHD and bipolar, keeping a ‘straight head’ can be a difficult task compared to his competitors.

“I can be on stage and not interested,” he continued. “I can be before the game and not interested, but on the very rare occasion, I can be super interested and properly in it.

“Sometimes I look for that feeling and when it’s not there, I just think ‘Oh well sod it’,” explained Wade when asked about how the conditions have impacted his career.

“It could be for £10million, and I would love £10million more than anyone, well a lot of people. But if my mind isn’t there, there’s nothing I can do about it.

“I’d love to say I can switch my mind on and off, but I can’t. My whole life is like that. I do things that I know will really p**s my wife off and will really annoy her. I know it will, but I can’t stop myself and it is what it is.”

Wade has never shied away from his experiences with mental health, and whether it was intentional or not, he’s been at the forefront of normalising the conversation in darts.

But there was a time when Wade was ostracised because of his condition.

He added: “I remember the first time I’d gone into the Priory [mental health care facility] and come out, I walked straight out of there and into the UK Open.

“I can honestly promise you I walked into the practice room with about 100 players, the room went quiet and there were only two people who said hello to me.

“Everyone else couldn’t look at me. It was like I had some sort of disease. That’s the strangest thing, I would say darts in general is still quite an old game and some of the people around it aren’t the most open-thinking.”

His competitors certainly take notice when he’s in top form, as there are very few if any, more devastating players with three darts in hand to win a match.

Wade’s pursuit for a first-ever World Darts Championship starts on Monday against either Jermaine Wattimena or Stefan Bellmont.