Taylor won his 16th World Championship at the 2013 staging of the event. He lost only nine legs on the way to the semi-finals where he played Raymond van Barneveld. Before the match, Taylor had taken offence to comments made by van Barneveld about not being scared of him and wanting to face him rather than Taylor's quarter-final opponent Andy Hamilton. Taylor raced into a five sets to one lead and withstood a strong fightback from van Barneveld before winning 6–4. After the match, Taylor reacted angrily when van Barneveld attempted to pull him back to congratulate him after their handshake. The pair were escorted from the stage separately by security staff. The next day, Taylor apologised for his behaviour which he described as "disgraceful". Taylor faced Michael van Gerwen in the final and, from 4–2 down, won five sets in a row to become the first man to lift the Sid Waddell Trophy. A day later, he was named the PDC Player of the Year.