Rob Cross has faced a significant ranking drop in 2025, going from 4th-17th in the PDC Order of Merit, however, despite his downturn in form, Cross is ‘not worried’ going into the 2026 World Championship…
Up until 2017, Rob Cross was working as a full-time electrician before finally pursuing darts as a profession.
A runner-up finish at the 2017 European Championship put the darts world on notice but no one was truly predicting what was to come when he’d win the 2018 World Championship on his tournament debut.
Beating Phil Taylor in the final made it an even more iconic scenario.
Fans and pundits wondered if the former electrician was going through a purple patch of form but Voltage would cement himself as one of the top darts players in the years that followed.
11 PDC major finals and 4 PDC major titles have Cross as one of the most successful darts players in PDC history but the former world champion has really been struggling at the oche in 2025…
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Rob Cross 2025 Decline
Rob Cross has never gone a season without making the quarter-finals of a major tournament. Usually it’s multiple tournaments throughout the year, with many including a runner-up finish or even the title.
In 2024 Cross had 4 quarter-final finishes in major tournaments and a semi-final finish at the 2024 World Championship.
In 2025 Cross has failed to make it to the quarter-final of ANY major tournament and has even had the first DNQ of his career having failed to qualify for the Grand Slam of Darts last month.
He won the first Players Championship event of the year and the Dutch Darts Masters so few would have predicted his season to go downhill so quickly.
After starting the year ranked 4th in the PDC Order of Merit, Cross is going into the biggest tournament in darts history ranked 17th.
He’s not the only former world champion to tumble down the rankings this year, however, Cross is adamant he’s not concerned about his form as he’s ‘struggled’ before but bounced back…
Rob Cross ‘Not Worried’ by 2025 Form
Speaking to talkSPORT Darts ahead of the 2026 World Championship, Cross was asked about his recent form having not made it to the latter stages of major tournaments this year and Cross honestly responded:
“I’m never 100% out of it.
“Let’s be honest, for me to win a tournament you look at the start of the year. I think I lost in Bahrain in early January for instance and I probably averaged about 78 and then the following week I went and won the Dutch [Darts Masters].
“It’s always nice to be playing with form and knowing that your game’s in a good place but I’m not one to rely on that. I’m a bit spontaneous I suppose.
“I’ve never been one to worry about rankings and other stuff, I’ve been very fortunate. I think most of the time I’ve been in the top 10, obviously I’m out of that at the minute.
“I think I had a big slump through covid or whatever and I dropped out then all of a sudden 18 months or 2 years later I was number 4 in the world so there’s no worries.”
Cross is going into the World Championship defending prize money from a semi-final finish in 2023.
While he mentions bouncing back up the rankings previously, an early exit could actually see him drop further down the rankings and outside of the top 20.
Despite a downturn in form, media earlier this year were suggesting Cross could be retiring early, however, Voltage has now firmly buffered that talk.
“Retirement ain’t an option. Retirement ain’t an option and definitely not at the minute.”
Rob Cross has been drawn against Cor Dekker in the first round of the 2026 World Championship and will be going into this tournament as an underdog on the back of his performances this year.
Even if winning is a stretch, Voltage needs a deep tournament run…
See his full interview with talkSPORT Darts below:
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