Max Hopp

Max Hopp
Personal information
Nickname Maximiser
Born (1996-08-20) 20 August 1996
Idstein, Germany
Home town Idstein
Germany
Darts information
Playing darts since 2008
Laterality Right-handed
Walk-on music No Limit by 2 Unlimited
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO 2011–2012
PDC 2012–
Current world ranking 37
PDC premier events - best performances
World Ch'ship Last 32: 2015
Grand Slam Group Stage: 2016
European Ch'ship Last 16: 2016
UK Open Last 64: 2015
Other tournament wins
Italian Grand Masters 2011
Austria Open Vienna 2012
WDF Europe Youth Cup 2012
PDC World Central European Qualifying Event 2012
PDC World Germany Qualifying Event 2014
PDC World Youth Championship 2015
PDC Development Tour 5 2016
Other achievements
2015 Breaks into the top 64 on the PDC Order of Merit for the first time

Max Hopp (born 20 August 1996) is a German darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation events.

Career

Hopp reached the final of the 2011 WDF World Cup boys' singles, and won the boys' singles event at the 2012 WDF Europe Youth Cup.[1] He also reached the last 16 of the 2012 Dutch Darts Masters, defeating Terry Jenkins and Steve Beaton before losing to Paul Nicholson.

Hopp qualified for the 2013 PDC World Darts Championship by winning the Central European Qualifier in Bielefeld[2] and in doing so became the second-youngest player ever to compete at the championships after Mitchell Clegg. Hopp played Charl Pietersen of South Africa in the preliminary round winning by 4 legs to 1 to set up a first round match against Denis Ovens.[3] Hopp took the first and third sets to lead the match 2–1, but then lost six legs in a row to bow out of the tournament with a 2–3 defeat.[4]

Hopp entered Q School in an attempt to win a PDC Tour Card to play the full circuit in 2013,[5] but could not get past the last 64 in any of the four days.[6] He qualified for the second European Tour event of the year, the European Darts Trophy and beat Dragutin Horvat 6–1 in the first round, before losing 3–6 to Dean Winstanley.[7] Hopp also qualified for the European Darts Open and the Austrian Darts Open, but lost in the first round in both.[8][9] These results helped him to qualify for the European Championship for the first time through the European Order of Merit.[10] He faced Paul Nicholson in the first round and led 3–1, but would lose 4–6.[11] Hopp beat Mark Walsh 6–4 in the opening round of the German Darts Championship and was then defeated 6–3 by Jamie Caven.[12] Hopp lost in the semi-finals of the German World Championship Qualify to Andree Welge, but reached the tournament anyway due to finishing the year eighth on the European Order of Merit which saw him claim the first of four spots available to non-qualified players.[13][14] Hopp played ninth seed Robert Thornton in the first round and won the first set, before going on to be defeated 3–1.[15]

Hopp began 2014 ranked world number 76, outside of the top 64 who guarantee themselves entry into every event for the year ahead.[16] He entered Q School in an attempt to win a two-year tour card but was not successful and only had PDPA Associate Member status for 2014 which gave him entry to UK Open and European Tour qualifiers as well as the Challenge Tour.[17] He qualified for six of the eight European Tour events losing in the first round in five of them, with the exception coming at the European Darts Grand Prix by eliminating Mike de Decker, but then lost 6–1 to Dave Chisnall.[18] He also lost two finals on the Youth Tour and the final of the 10th Challenge Tour event 5–4 to Jay Foreman.[19]

2015

In the German Qualifier for the 2015 World Championship, Hopp beat Sascha Stein 10–8 in the final but subsequently qualified through the Pro Tour Order of Merit to begin the tournament in the first round, instead of the preliminary round.[20] He produced a superb performance against Mervyn King to beat him 3–2, sealing his place in the second round with a 161 finish. Hopp hit 10 180s during the match, the most of all the first round players in the event.[21] He was comfortably defeated 4–0 by Vincent van der Voort in the second round.[22] However, his play during 2014 and at the World Championship saw him rise 14 places in the rankings during the year to start 2015 62nd, the first time Hopp has been inside the top 64 who gain their PDC tour cards.[23] At the first UK Open Qualifier he eliminated Kevin Painter, Ian White and Michael Smith to play in his first quarter-final in the PDC, where Brendan Dolan beat Hopp 6–5.[24] This result helped him enter the UK Open at the third round stage where Kim Huybrechts beat him 9–7 after Hopp had been 7–5 up.[25] Hopp played in his first World Cup of Darts this year. He partnered Jyhan Artut and they saw off India and Austria to make the quarter-finals, where they lost both their singles matches against England to exit the tournament.[26] He was invited to play in the inaugural World Series of Darts Finals and saw off Cristo Reyes 6–3, before losing by a reversal of this scoreline to Peter Wright in the second round.[27] In the final of the 2015 World Youth Championship, Hopp was never ahead of his opponent Nathan Aspinall until the final leg when he sealed the title with a 6–5 win.[28]

2016

Hopp lost 3–1 to Benito van de Pas in the first round of the 2016 World Championship.[29] He couldn't qualify for the UK Open, but at the fourth Players Championship he reached his first quarter-final in a year by seeing off Mensur Suljović 6–2. Hopp then lost by a reversal of this scoreline to Gerwyn Price.[30] He claimed the fifth Development Tour title with a 4–2 victory over Steve Lennon.[31] At the European Darts Matchplay, Hopp beat Joe Murnan 6–5, Ian White 6–2 and Terry Jenkins 6–3 to progress through to his first European Tour quarter-final, where he was defeated 6–4 by Peter Wright.[32] He got to the second round of the European Championship by eliminating Benito van de Pas 6–4, but was heavily defeated 10–3 by James Wade.[33] His World Youth title qualified Hopp for his first Grand Slam of Darts where he was beaten 5–4 by Brendan Dolan and defeated Martin Adams 5–2, but a 5–1 loss to Michael van Gerwen would see him finish third in Group A and exit the tournament.[34]

World Championship results

PDC

References

  1. "Bull's Darts - Max Hopp wins WDF Europe Cup Youth". Bulls-darts.com. Retrieved 2012-11-12.
  2. "International Trio Win Ally Pally Spots". Professional Darts Corporation. 2012-11-12. Retrieved 2012-11-12.
  3. "2013 PDC World Championship Fixtures". Darts Database. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
  4. "Ladbrokes WDC Day Two". PDC. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  5. "Q School Set For Record Field". PDC. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  6. "Max Hopp 2012". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 23 January 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  7. "2013 PDC European Darts Trophy Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  8. "2013 PDC European Darts Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  9. "2013 PDC Austrian Darts Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  10. "PartyPoker.net European Championship Update". PDC. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  11. "partypoker.net Euro Champs - Day Two". PDC. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  12. "2013 PDC German Darts Championship Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  13. "European Order of Merit". PDC. Archived from the original on 25 November 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  14. "2014 PDC World Championship Qualifiers". Darts Database. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  15. "Ladbrokes World Championship Day Two". PDC. 14 December 2013.
  16. "Order of Merit on 2 January 2014". PDC. Archived from the original on 12 January 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  17. "2014 PDC Qualifying School Day Four". PDC. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  18. "2014 PDC European Darts Grand Prix Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  19. "Tabern & Foreman's Challenge Tour Joy". PDC. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  20. "Final International Qualifiers Win Spots". PDC. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  21. "William Hill World Championship Day Six". PDC. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  22. "William Hill World Championship Day Nine". PDC. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  23. "Order of Merit on 5 January 2015". PDC. Archived from the original on 8 January 2015. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  24. "Lethal Lewis Triumphs In Wigan". PDC. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  25. "Coral UK Open Third Round". PDC. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  26. "2015 PDC World Cup of Darts Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
  27. "2015 World Series Of Darts Finals Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  28. "World Youth Glory For Hopp". PDC. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  29. "William Hill World Championship Day Seven". PDC. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  30. "Maiden ProTour Win For Big Ben". PDC. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  31. "2016 PDC Development Tour Germany Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  32. "Wade's HappyBet European Matchplay Glory". PDC. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  33. "2016 European Championship Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
  34. "2016 Grand Slam Of Darts Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
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