​’He’s not unbeatable’: Fearless Kevin Doets talks Luke Littler, Nathan Aspinall, Dutch legends ahead of World Grand Prix originally appeared on The Sporting News.
Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.Kevin Doets is one of the exciting young players in PDC Darts, with big aspirations ahead of the World Grand Prix and the ‘major season’ in 2026.Doets will be competing in the first World Grand Prix of his career this week, a few months after his debut in Blackpool for the World Matchplay.The World Grand Prix is a unique event in the sense that players must hit a double to begin chipping away at 501 in a leg, so there are different types of preparation needed for the tournament’s abnormal format.For Doets, though, he’s always incorporated a lot of his focus on the doubles in practice, so nothing changed drastically ahead of the World Grand Prix.”I always practice doubles anyway; that’s how I start my session, but then I normally play 501…This time I switched it up; last week I did double-in on Dart Counter to get myself prepared…but I’ve always practiced doubles, so the only thing I’ve changed is the double-in in my practice routine,” Doets told The Sporting News.MORE: Every 9-darter in World Darts Grand Prix historyExpectations entering World Grand PrixDoets plays Nathan Aspinall in the opening round of the World Grand Prix, and has a winning record against him in his career. One of those wins was a thrilling victory that Doets had in the third round of the World Championship last year.”He’s a great player, but so am I”, Doets said. “I like to tease him all the time that he doesn’t have a good record against me…every game is different, especially the Grand Prix…I’m going to go in there with my head held high and hope for the best.”If Doets beat Aspinall, he’d have a shot at playing Luke Littler in the second round.The two players have played each other a few times before, with Littler most notably escaping with a 10-8 win against Doets at the UK Open earlier this year.”He’s not unbeatable… he’s not a crowd favorite right now either, but he’s still Luke Littler; he’s the number one in the world, he’s someone you want to avoid for as long as possible,” Doets said.MORE: Jonny Clayton ends Luke Littler’s perfect 2026 record at majors”If you do meet him, you’re going to have to bring your A-game… to be able to play him and have a chance to beat him is amazing,” Doets said.Doets enters the event as an unseeded player (not in the top-16 on the Main OoM), so he has a tougher pathway to getting additional wins/prize money at the event.However, we’ve seen some unpredictable results at the event before, most notably when Mike De Decker won in 2024 despite being world #36.”This is a tournament that’s pretty open; anything can happen in this tournament… This is going to be my first time, so the first game is going to say a lot about where I am, but who knows what’s going to happen. One dart can make a diffe