Swiss done

Couldn't get anything up before the last sixteen. Had one of those Saturdays where your plans get disrupted (thanks Northern Rail) and as a result I could have had an extra two or more hours in bed in the morning. As such, felt disproportionately more knackered in the evening, which was probably more mental than anything, and didn't feel up to entering the round two data. Turns out I woke up fine and probably could have rushed something in the morning, then noticed the tourney was starting an hour earlier than usual because reasons which put the kaibosh on that. So here's the new FRH rankings:

1 Luke Littler

2 Gian van Veen

3 Luke Humphries

4 Gerwyn Price

5 James Wade

6 Wessel Nijman

7 Jonny Clayton

8 Ryan Searle

9 Ross Smith

10 Danny Noppert

11 Josh Rock

12 Nathan Aspniall

13 Gary Anderson

14 Luke Woodhouse

15 Chris Dobey

16 Jermaine Wattimena

17 Stephen Bunting

18 Krzysztof Ratajski

19 Michael van Gerwen

20 Dirk van Duijvenbode

There's actually no changes after Clayton got the bink and secured his Grand Slam spot. Dirk put a bit of distance between himself and Cross, and Clayton's now a lot closer to Nijman than Searle. Lower down, Sedlacek's decent run doesn't actually move him up any spots, same for Michael Smith. de Graaf did climb a couple of spots and is nearly in the top 40, Reyes and Suljovic are safely in the top 50, while Bradley Brooks leaps into the top 60.

So, to make up for lack of final day Basel stuff, here's a list of nine young players you should know about but might not know about. Now some of these you will know about, particularly regular readers, but new people come in all the time who might not follow things quite as closely. I'm going to exclude anyone that's won a Pro Tour, as you should definitely know about them, so sorry to any Henry Coates fans etc, and I'm going to draw the cutoff at those who'll be eligible to play the Dev Tour next year or younger, so a latest year of birth of 2003. So, in no particular order:

Mitchell Lawrie - Probably the most well known of this list, basically on account of his WDF world final last year where he gave Jimmy van Schie a run for his money. Not 16 until next month, he's solidly on top of the WDF (senior) world rankings and ought to be a solid favourite to go one better this year, having picked up five senior titles this season. It's only a matter of if, rather than when, he moves to the PDC, whether he jumps straight into Q-School or goes for the best of both worlds in 2027 is the question, doing the Dev Tour but also getting the WDF/Modus cake.

Archie Self - Only clicking into Development Tour eligibility this year, Self has had a very strong showing, finishing within the top ten which, barring any rule changes, will put him into the UK Open. Self claimed one title on that tour and also two on the Challenge Tour, finishing in the top five of that ranking and getting some Pro Tour experience as a result. Like Lawrie his scoring in my database is over 90, and he's done good work on the WDF circuit as well, claiming a big senior title just this weekend.

Kaya Baysal - Another player on the extremely young scale of things, Baysal had an explosive start to the Development Tour, not being eligible for much of it because he was too young, but claiming the last title of the season after reaching a final on debut got him into the top sixteen. Baysal is also in the top sixteen of the main WDF world rankings which will see him make a Lakeside debut after a quarter final in the PDC world youth put him out of contention for that, although, having declared for Turkey (despite being from Burnley), maybe there's a regional qualifier he can play?

Zehra Gemi - Staying with the Turkish theme, Gemi is one of the prominent names rising from that rapidly improving country, who came to a lot of people's attention when she was victorious in the WDF girls' world championship last year. She's not been able to play too much of the circuit this year, which could be a cost thing as much as anything, but where she has played she's more or less cleaned up. It would be good if that could be built on - picking a timing where she could get some combination of WDF/Dev Tour/Women's Series/Modus in a row would be a natural step if it could be worked out.

Peter Kelemen - A bit more of a wild card here, Kelemen is at the forefront of the development of the game in Hungary, making a solid showing early in the Development Tour, picking up strong prize money in the opening weekend with wins over prominent names and solid averages, managing to work it into a European Tour debut earlier this year. With the domestic players being a bit of a mix of younger and older players (Andras Borbely isn't exactly old himself), there could easily be more opportunities, having picked up a lot of under-23 titles on the WDF circuit, and especially given the prominence the PDC is giving to the country.

Jamai van den Herik - This is a name that's been pretty consistent over the last couple of years, with Jamai having a very strong 2025, which maybe hasn't been followed up quite as strongly in 2026, but he did get a top four finish on the Development Tour this year which has secured a return to Ally Pally having given Madars Razma a good match last year. He doesn't have long left on the Dev Tour, this will be his last year, but it looks like he should have a tour card secured, which will get him to the level where he has shown flashes previously.

Jayden Walker - Possibly the youngest name on the list, Walker has been picking up solid results on the WDF youth circuit despite being just 14 years of age, so still a good couple of years away from showing up on the Development Tour. Walker was kind of an unknown name to me until this weekend, winning one of the WDF events down in Selsey, becoming supposedly the youngest ever WDF senior winner. He's done work on the JDC circuit and has had some results that have raised hopes he could end up being a very strong player going forward.

Jack Drayton - Jack had a very strong start to this season, having been relatively unknown about eighteen months ago. Drayton was able to pick up a brace of Development Tour titles in the opening weekend, and then follow it up with a good showing in the WDF events in the Isle of Man back in March. He had a very unlucky follow up, running into a lot of stronger opponents to knock him out - running into tour card holders on five occasions and other people that finished high in the rankings, and only just missed out on a worlds debut as a result. His finish should give him plenty of chances in 2027, and if he can keep his form up for a bit longer then we'll be seeing him on the Pro Tour some time soon.

Kai Burger - Maybe the latest off the Dutch production line, Burger has only been Development Tour eligible for a few months and hasn't given it a try, but his positioning in the WDF circuit is impressive. Only 16, Kai is third in the under 18 rankings, and being behind Lawrie and Baysal is not exactly a reason to criticise. He's claimed more than one title this season and was a finalist in the relevant age range Dutch Open, so hopefully 2027 will see Kai move forward onto stronger fields of play.