"Feel like I'm banging my head against a wall" - Daryl Gurney admits struggle arresting slide down the world rankings

Daryl Gurney provided a small upset on Thursday night at the 2024 European Championship in Dortmund, Germany. 'Superchin' was too strong for Gerwyn Price in the first round, 6-3. In the next round, Gurney will now take on Dirk van Duijvenbode.

Gurney, the number seventeen seed, was particularly pleased with his victory against 16th-seeded Gerwyn Price. "I haven't won that many games against 'Gezzy' at all, never mind on the stage or pro tour. I don't know if I beat him in the World Series, but it's not a ranking tournament," Gurney said afterwards in his post-match press conference. "So I don't know if he really wanted to be here or whatever. But glad to beat him in one that actually matters."

The 38-year-old Northern Irishman won the World Grand Prix back in 2017 and the Players Championship Finals a year later. In recent years, however, things have slowed down and he has dropped to his current spot of 26th in the world rankings. "I put myself under a lot of pressure then. Now, I just feel like I know what's going on in the game, whereas a couple of years ago, I was just going through the motions," he explains. "I still feel like I'm playing better now than I ever did when I won them titles, but the PDC is an absolute monster of a machine. The players, the standard, the dedication of everybody nowadays makes it really difficult."

"Listen, I would love to be in the top 20, pushing the top 16. But whatever I do sometimes, it comes back to bite me and it doesn't matter what I do, I just feel like it's my luck," Gurney continues. "For a couple years I was 25 in the world, but then all of a sudden Mike de Decker wins the Grand Prix and then he's five grand in front of me. So all the hard work I've done to try and climb, I'm suddenly five grand behind a player that's just won a major. Feel like I'm banging my head against a wall."

As mentioned, in the next round, Gurney takes on Dutchman, Dirk van Duijvenbode, who was too strong in the first round for the number one seed and home crowd favourite Martin Schindler, 6-3 on Thursday evening in Dortmund.