# Krzysztof Ratajski

Krzysztof Ratajski (Polish pronunciation:; 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 for highest pairs three-dart 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. They played the host nation Germany, who were represented by Jyhan Artut and Andree Welge, and were defeated 5–2.
He lost in the semi-finals of the 2015 Polish Open 5–2 to Scott Waites. Ratajski made his PDC European Tour debut at the 2015 European Darts Trophy and was edged out 6–5 by Adam Hunt in the first round. He was knocked out 3–2 by Martin Adams in the last 16 of the World Masters.
Ratajski played in the BDO World Trophy for the first time in 2016 and lost 6–4 to Scott Waites. 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. He qualified for the International Darts Open and was eliminated 6–1 by Chris Dobey in the first round.
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.
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. He qualified for the latter as the top ranked Eastern European on the PDC Pro Tour.
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 PDC Tour Card. Ratajski played on the 2018 Challenge Tour. Ratajski made the final at event 8 and won event 14. 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.
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. 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. His weekend “double header” win secured him a place at the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship. 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.

### 2019

Despite a 3–2 loss to Seigo Asada in the first round of the 2019 PDC World Championship, Ratajski was able to secure an automatic PDC Tour Card thanks to his placement in the top 64 of the PDC Order of Merit.
He made his debut in several major tournaments over the course of the year, qualifying for the World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, and World Series Finals. He reached the quarter-finals of the latter, bowing out in a deciding leg to Mensur Suljović.
He picked up two ranking titles in Players Championship events. He defeated reigning UK Open champion Nathan Aspinall 8–3 in the final of Players Championship 17 and followed that with another win at Players Championship 21, where he defeated Dimitri Van den Bergh 8–7 in the final. These wins saw him enter the world's top 32 for the first time. In September, he won his first European Tour title by beating Dave Chisnall 8–2 in the final of the Gibraltar Darts Trophy, securing his sixth PDC ranking title and the first European Tour victory for a Polish player.

### 2020

Ratajski was the 21st seed at the 2020 World Championship and started in the second round. In his third appearance at the competition, he achieved his first win by defeating Zoran Lerchbacher 3–1. In the third round, he was beaten 4–3 by Nathan Aspinall.
He won his sole title of the year at Players Championship 4 in February, narrowly beating Ian White 8–7 in the final. In his second appearance at the World Matchplay, he reached the quarter-finals. He defeated Jermaine Wattimena 10–4 in the first round with a three-dart average of 107.53. He progressed to the last eight with a 12–10 win over Gabriel Clemens, before being eliminated by Michael Smith who won 16–13. He reached a further two ranking finals during the year but failed to claim another title, finishing as runner-up at the 18th and 23rd Players Championship events.

### 2021–2022

Ratajski achieved his best PDC World Championship result at the 2021 event by reaching the quarter-finals. After whitewashing Ryan Joyce 3–0 in his opening match, he then whitewashed Simon Whitlock in a 4–0 victory in the third round. A fourth-round win against Gabriel Clemens, a match where both players had darts to win the match, saw Ratajski become the first Polish player to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament. His run was ended by Stephen Bunting, to whom he lost 5–3.
Ratajski reached two televised semi-finals in 2021. He reached the last four of the World Matchplay for the first time after a 16–8 victory over Callan Rydz in the quarter-finals. He initially led his semi-final match against Dimitri Van den Bergh 6–2 but was eventually beaten 17–9. He reached the same stage at the World Series Finals, where he was defeated once again by Van den Bergh.
Ratajski was successful in the final event of the 2021 Pro Tour, Players Championship 30, securing the title by defeating Joe Cullen 8–7 in the final. He was unable to win a title the following year; his best result during the 2022 PDC Pro Tour being a final at Players Championship 22, where he lost 8–3 to Nathan Aspinall.

### 2023–2025

Ratajski won his first ranking title since November 2021 at 2023 Players Championship 9 with a resounding 8–1 victory over Chris Landman in the final. In Poland's second match of the 2023 PDC World Cup of Darts group stage, Ratajski and Krzysztof Kciuk defeated Lithuania 4–1 in legs, achieving the world record for highest pairs three-dart average with an average of 118.10. At the inaugural Poland Darts Masters, home favourite Ratajski won his opening-round match against Rob Cross 6–3 before exiting the tournament in the quarter-finals. He captured his second European Tour title and tenth PDC title overall by winning the 2023 German Darts Open, beating Stephen Bunting 8–3 in the final.
At the 2025 World Championship, Ratajski was eliminated in the third round in a 4–3 loss to Kevin Doets despite having multiple match darts to win.

## 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: Third round (lost to Kevin Doets 3–4)

## Career finals
### BDO major finals: 1 (1 title)

* Legend
* Winmau World Masters (1–0)
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score |
| Winner | 1. | 2017 | Winmau World Masters | Mark McGeeney | 6–1 (s) |
* ↑ (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

## Performance timeline

PDC
| Tournament | 2010 | 2013 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
| PDC Ranked televised events |||||||||||||
| World Championship | BDO | BDO | BDO | BDO | 1R | 1R | 3R | QF | 2R | 3R | 3R | 3R |
| World Masters | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | 1R | 2R | 1R | 2R | Prel. |
| UK Open | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | 5R | 6R | 4R | QF | 4R | 4R | 5R | 6R |
| World Matchplay | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | 2R | QF | SF | 2R | 1R | 2R | |
| World Grand Prix | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | 1R | 1R | QF | 2R | 2R | DNQ | |
| European Championship | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | 1R | DNQ | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | DNQ | |
| Grand Slam | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | 2R | DNQ | RR | RR | DNQ | 2R | DNQ | |
| Players Championship Finals | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | 3R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 3R | 1R | 2R | |
| PDC Non-ranked televised events |||||||||||||
| World Cup | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 2R | 2R | 2R | 2R | |
| World Series Finals | Not held | Not held | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | QF | 2R | SF | DNQ | 2R | DNQ | |
| Career statistics |||||||||||||
| Year-end ranking | Not ranked | Not ranked | Not ranked | 79 | 55 | 20 | 14 | 12 | 20 | 24 | 32 | |
PDC European Tour
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 2015 | Did not participate | Did not participate | Did not participate | Did not participate | Did not participate | 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 | Did not participate | Did not participate | Did not participate | Did not participate | Did not participate | Did not participate | Did not participate | Did not participate | Did not participate | Did not participate | Did not participate | Did not participate | Did not participate | Did not participate | Did not participate | Did not participate | Did not participate | Did not participate | 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 |
* ↑ Not a Tour card holder
Performance Table Legend :
| W | Won the tournament | F | Finalist | SF | Semifinalist | QF | Quarterfinalist | #R RR Prel. | Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round | DQ | Disqualified |
| DNQ | Did not qualify | DNP | Did not participate | WD | Withdrew | NH | Tournament not held | #R RR Prel. | Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round | NYF | Not yet founded |