"I don’t really care what other players say about me" Wessel Nijman brush off comments made by van Veen and Cullen

Wessel Nijman reacted to European Champion Gian van Veen saying that he has a 'lack of bottle' after showing immense skill under pressure to fend off a sublime Josh Rock 5-4 in the opening group stage match of the Grand Slam of Darts.

After surviving match darts, Nijman kept his cool to go 4-3 behind before taking out a massive 130 checkout in the bull with Rock left on 16 for the match. He then won the match with a 13-darter on double 16, pinning the double in one dart.

"Yeah, I’ve come a long way to finally win a game on this stage," Nijman told Online Darts. "I still haven’t averaged under 100 on this stage, but it feels good to finally get a win."

Rock was staggering in the match, finishing with a 109.23 average. However, this did not phase the young Dutchman who kept his cool on the outer ring.

"I didn’t really feel like he was averaging that high, to be honest," Nijman admitted. "I did Dutch television just now and they told me his average was 109 — I was like, 'Oh, that’s typical, isn’t it?' But yeah, I’m really happy with the way I played, especially in the last part of the game."

In that last leg, possible recurring nightmares of missed darts against Michael van Gerwen in the World Series of Darts Finals and European Championship. However, he put these in the back of his mind to get over the line.

"I already got that out of my mind, to be fair. The first floor tournament I played after that was a semi-final, and the one after that I won. Everybody else might still think about it, but honestly, I’m not really thinking about it anymore," Nijman said.

He reacted to fellow Dutchman van Veen who said he has a 'lack of bottle': "I don’t know. I know if I play the way I do on the floor — and even better on the stage — then I can be. But for now, I don’t really care what other players say about me."

When Nijman is playing his best darts, he is a threat to anyone. "If I play my own game, I know I’ll be dangerous for everyone. But it’s going to be different to play the Worlds like I did last year. Somehow, they made me seventh or eighth favourite — no one really knows why! But yeah, it’s going to be different this year, I think."

Despite his recent positive form, he is not at his best quite yet. "Not during the match, no. I was just focused on getting my own game going. I think that 130 on the bull changed the game — otherwise, I would’ve lost. But I’m happy with the win," Nijman said, who went on to discuss whether he enjoys playing on TV. "Yeah, I do. That might be the problem, actually," he said laughing. "I enjoy it, but it’s just a matter of time before I start getting more results on TV."

With the PDC World Darts Championship fast approching, memories come flooding back about Joe Cullen's outburst after his second-round win over Nijman, walking out after lambasting the media and press.

Nijman stated that he has nothing against the former Masters champion. "I don’t know if it was justified, but I can see where he was coming from. Me and Joe have no problems at all. I respect Joe, and Joe respects me — that’s not an issue at all," he concluded.