"Let them think I’m finished" – Van Gerwen’s bold warning ahead of 2025 PDC World Darts Championship

Michael van Gerwen starts the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship on Friday, December 20th. The 35-year-old Dutchman will take on James Hurrell in the second round after the Englishman took a comfortable 3-0 victory over Jim Long in his opening match.

For the first time in years, Van Gerwen is not starting the World Darts Championship as a top favourite, having failed to win a single major title this year. "Everything was also against us," Van Gerwen said to De Telegraaf. "It's a bit of confidence. It chafes."

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His last two tournaments (Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championship Finals) were not a success either, with Van Gerwen going down disappointingly each time. "That obviously wasn't the best preparation for the Worlds, we can't ignore that. But I'll recover from this as well, I've stood hotter fires. It's similar to my lesser phase around the corona period, that wasn't a party for me either. I don't worry, because there's nothing to be gained from that," he says. "But that something really needed to be done? Definitely. I always do something extra towards the World Championship and this time I really chose a different, intensive approach together with Vincent (van der Voort ed.). I'm only playing the 20th now and every day I was able to work extra on my game counts."

Michael van Gerwen in acite

There are traditionally many surprises at a World Championship, but Van Gerwen is not thinking about a quick exit. "I feel now that I still have enough time to turn it around. Everything starts with daring to face the facts and adjusting yourself accordingly," he says determinedly. "I don't want to be able to say afterwards that I didn't do enough about it, didn't train enough or was stubborn. That would be stupid. But this is also something you do spend some time with. This is not like: hey, tomorrow I'll be back and I'll throw every game 110 average. But everything has to go for this. There is one tournament that is different than all the others and where I have to go out and have a blast. That's the World Championship, period."

Van Gerwen's throw in particular seems to be faltering a bit lately. "That's why we are training a lot on flexibility now. Although everything has to do with each other and that can be a bit different every leg. The less good you throw, the harder you work for it. The darts are very good in the board, you look for example at the angle, the number of degrees. They just have to be in the right spot a little more often and not five inches apart, that's something else. Whether I look at old footage myself, I don't, because I don't think I get anything out of it. Right now, I think that would only make me more annoyed with myself. Vincent does look at them and then gives some dings."

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Arguably the biggest issue for Van Gerwen, is the fact he no longer has the aura of being virtually unbeatable, especially at the big tournaments. "Ian White suddenly throws the match of his life against me at the Players Championship Finals (6-1, ed.), players get a little more confidence when they face me. You give people a finger and they take your whole hand," he notes. "I didn't throw anything myself and I went crazy for a while, whereas I'm pretty good at handling disappointments and putting things into perspective. It's not that I step onto that stage with my knees buckling, certainly not. But everything has to do with confidence and then it would be nice if for once I dragged out a game in a very dirty way, for example."

Still, Van Gerwen has no doubt that old, unbeatable version of himself, can still come back. "Oh, sure. It hasn't been a great year, but we still have a while (considering his age, ed.). I haven't lost it, mind you. But 'it will be okay,' I really can't think that now. It is far too changeable now and I have to do everything I can to get that out. That doesn't mean it will work out immediately, but it can happen very quickly. In September I also suddenly won the Euro Tour in Budapest. The problem is that even after winning it could quickly go the other way again."

"Let them all think that they don't have to take me into account, then one day someone will get the lid on their nose," continues 'Mighty Mike'. "That they think: oh well, he can do that too of course. I can't wait for that moment. Everyone talks about Humphries and Littler and they deserve it, because they won the best tournaments this year. But I'm having a year like this and have still won as much from Littler as he has from me. I'm not afraid to play against the biggest. Now when people ask me if I can become world champion, I say "yes," but then everything has to fall into place. You don't always have a grip on that, but everything starts with continuing to believe in yourself. When people say I can lose to anyone at the moment, they forget one thing: I can still win from anyone, too."

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