De Zwaan on difficult period: "I didn't even feel like going to tournaments anymore"

Jeffrey de Zwaan has experienced a difficult start to the year with barely any matches won due in part to a shoulder injury.

De Zwaan became infected with Coronavirus last year but had relatively little trouble with it. His shoulder injury worried him more.

“I then had it looked at. That is still a thing. I have to check again in about two months. It's a nasty injury, I just can't get a grip on it. You just want to play freely, so that's a frustration point. After four days of throwing arrows, I notice that my shoulder needs a rest to recover. I haden't touched my arrows for two months after corona. That was actually good for me," said 'The Black Cobra' to Sportnieuws.nl.

Because of those problems, the 25-year-old Dutchman had a particularly difficult time mentally because he did not reach his normal level. “I didn't feel like it anymore. I didn't even feel like going to a tournament, because I thought 'I'll lose anyway'. After the forced rest period due to corona, however, things went better. I really wanted to start playing darts again, it did me good. Because at first I had moments at competitions that I thought with my average: 'You must be able to do better Jeffrey'.”

De Zwaan will start the fifth Super Series next Monday. “During practice sessions it's going well again, I'm throwing 100+ averages. That has yet to come out in competitions. When I look at what I do during training, I expect to be able to win matches. The confidence has to come back."

The top 32 of the Order of Merit will qualify for the PDC World Championship at the end of the year, De Zwaan is currently 29th and hopes to be there. “I haven't achieved anything this year, so there is of course the doubt. But I do hope for the World Championship, because that would mean things are going in the right direction again."