Raymond van Barneveld reached the quarterfinals of the 2025 Dutch Darts Masters on the World Series of Darts last weekend in Den Bosch. Eventually though, the five-time world champion went down 6-5 to Stephen Bunting.
Van Barneveld had provided a small upset in the first round by beating Premier League Darts star Chris Dobey 6-5, pinning a stunning 144 checkout to get the victory in style. "You can still see the amazing talent he has," Vincent van der Voort reflects via the podcast 'Darts Draait Door'. "In terms of technique and pitch, it's all right. I think in terms of level he was pretty good, especially considering he's been pretty lousy for a month."
Van der Voort especially noticed how positive Van Barneveld was on stage. "In the beginning of the year you still feel like it, then it all still goes. But you have to have this feeling in April/May and towards the end of the year as well," he says. "That's the hardest thing, you can't change someone one hundred percent. You can't tell him that from now on life is only beautiful. He will have to accept that he no longer belongs to the elite."
"He's a very great champion, but he just doesn't belong there anymore," continues Van der Voort. "He can still give any player a hard time and win from anyone. Then go for that. Pick your results. Maybe it's better for him to pass up a tournament once in a while."
Van Barneveld indicated that after his disappointing performance at the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship (Van Barneveld lost to Nick Kenny in his opening match), he had a little talk with himself. "I can totally see it in front of me, but also understand what he means. He with be reset, let's put that first. Continuing in this way makes no sense and it would also only detract from his status and I would think that would be a shame. He still belongs among the best five darters ever," Van der Voort concludes.