"Darts is and remains a peculiar game, sometimes I don't really understand it myself" - Dimitri Van den Bergh on inconsistent recent form

Dimitri Van den Bergh is performing inconsistently this year. The 29-year-old Belgian may have won the UK Open, but at most other tournaments he has suffered early exits.

Van den Bergh will be in action this weekend at the Dutch Darts Masters. "I am going there to do my best 100 percent, but we will only know on the day how it will go," he told Het Nieuwsblad. "Darts is and remains a peculiar game. In practice it is certainly not bad, but... Last time (referring to the Baltic Sea Darts Open in Kiel, ed.) I had one of my best practice sessions ever and played a bad match (Van den Bergh threw 88 average and lost 6-3 to Daryl Gurney, ed.). That was a moment of, 'Okay, now I don't understand anything anymore.' So I'm not going to say anymore that it will be OK."

"I played a very nice UK Open and the Masters were very good, but other than that nothing really," continued 'The Dreammaker'. "It's a matter of keeping working hard and being patient. What's it down to then? I don't know. What I do know: if I win a floor tournament, I'll be all over the place again. I can't do more than my best, because I know I'm much stronger than I've shown so far. You also don't expect to go out in round one. Down periods are part of it, but it's hard to understand this after winning the UK Open. You would think that you would get a boost and produce good results. Now the latter remains absent. And again: it is a peculiar game. Sometimes I have confidence and make a quick exit, and sometimes the other way around."

Van den Bergh is also struggling a bit with an injury. "I've already done a few sessions with my physiotherapist with my wrist and (throwing) arm," Van den Bergh stated. "But it appears to be an injury that has been dragging on for a while now and keeps coming back. That's pretty irritating. It doesn't keep me from playing darts and it doesn't make it worse or anything, but it's annoying to have to feel pain before being able to throw pain-free."

"I was advised to have an MRI scan to see what exactly is going on," he continued. "For now, we don't know what's wrong. I've tried a number of things, such as dry needling, but a permanent solution hasn't come out yet. At certain times it is better and then I can throw without pain, which is a blissful feeling, but then it rears its head again. But here I also have to keep going, I'm not thinking of taking a break or anything. Work hard and we'll see."

The World Cup of Darts is scheduled for the end of next month. Van den Bergh normally forms a duo with Kim Huybrechts there, although it is still unclear whether the latter will get fit in time after his double collarbone fracture. "Mike De Decker is also playing in Rosmalen this weekend and if he wins the tournament he will jump over Kim to the status of Belgian number two," Van den Bergh said. "At the moment it's still waiting to see, indeed. We'll see, but it's not ideal in terms of preparation."