Jermaine Watttimen started the 2025 season brilliantly PDC World Darts Championships. The Machine Gun defeated Swiss debutant Stefan Bellmont 3-0 in his first match with an average of 98.54. Wattimena will return to action on Monday afternoon when it will face the 16th seed James Wade.
Watttimena was particularly impressed at Alexandra Palace. “I’m very pleased with the performance, so I approach tomorrow’s match against James Wade with a good feeling,” Wattimen said in his press conference after the matchadmitting that playing on opening night didn’t make it any easier. “Yes, it added a little bit of pressure.”
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At the end of October, Wattimana reached the final of the European Championships, where he ultimately lost to Ritchie Edhouse. It was the first major final of Wattimena’s career and the Dutchman backed it up with deep runs in the Grand Slam of Darts and the Players Championship finals. As such, he comes to the Ally Pack full of confidence. “I think this was my best year ever, so James Wade has to prepare for tomorrow… he has to play his best game to beat me,” he explains. “I was really happy with today’s performance and now I’m going into tomorrow feeling good. I think going into this tournament I feel more confident than ever before.
As mentioned, the 36-year-old Dutchman does not have much time to rest, as he returned to the game this afternoon. Wattimana will face Wade in the final match of Monday’s afternoon session. Their last meeting was at the recent European Championships, where Wattimana was too strong for his English opponent in the second round, 10-9 en route to the final.
“I can gain a lot of confidence after beating James [in Dortmund]” says Wattimana, noting that “The Machine” wasn’t the only big name that caught his fancy at the European Championships. “And then I beat the world number one [Luke Humphries]so you know your confidence is good.”
