“I drove myself completely mad” – Mental turnaround led to Dirk van Duijvenbode’s success at the World Matchplay

Dirk van Duijvenbode enjoyed his best televised tournament of the year at the World Matchplay. The Dutchman reached the semi-finals in Blackpool, earning a significant jump on the PDC Order of Merit. Yet the ‘Aubergenius’ looks back with mixed feelings. He is critical of his game, far more realistic about his equipment, and above all optimistic about his future.

In the Darts Draait Door podcast, Van Duijvenbode spoke candidly about how he rediscovered confidence after months of doubt. Although a last-four spot is an excellent result on paper, Van Duijvenbode himself feels he didn’t hit his top level during the tournament.

“A good result, especially given my ranking,” he reflected. “I didn’t play great in the first two matches. Nor in the last one. But in the end I still produced a very good result. I’m just really happy with that.”

The semi-final berth arrived at a crucial time. Van Duijvenbode had been enduring a difficult season and saw his aim of returning towards the top 24 drift further out of reach. Thanks to his strong performance in Blackpool, that gap has been wiped out in one go.

“My goal for this year was to definitely be in the top 24. Instead of getting closer, I was actually being pushed further away. Now, with this step, I’ve reclaimed that spot. Now it’s a matter of holding on and preferably kicking on a bit more.”

According to Vincent van der Voort, the tournament perfectly fit the pattern of his good friend’s first half of the season: a player searching for the right solution. Van der Voort pointed to the ongoing hunt for the right equipment and the issues Van Duijvenbode encountered with the new matchboards. Van Duijvenbode himself now markedly nuances that topic.

In earlier interviews, Van Duijvenbode regularly spoke critically about the new matchboards, but on the podcast he made it clear that he has largely let go of that frustration.

“I don’t think those boards are bad at all,” he stressed. “Only when the board is new, it’s just too hard for the way I play. That makes my darts drop. After about fifteen minutes that’s usually no longer the case, but on the Euro Tour we play matches that only last just over fifteen minutes, for example.”

According to Van Duijvenbode, the problem was never solely the board itself. He mainly looked for a setup that suited the new conditions. “I was looking for what works for me with this system. Once it’s different, you really won’t hear me. Then everything is fine.”

Still, he admits he sometimes drove himself mad over the course of the season by pinning everything on that one issue. “At a certain point you attribute everything to that factor. That actually makes no sense. At the start of the year I was playing well, while I already had a bit of trouble with it then. After a while you start blaming everything on that one thing. That’s not how it should be, and it certainly doesn’t make you better.”

The real turnaround came just before the World Matchplay. Not because he suddenly found the perfect darts or setup, but precisely because he decided to stop searching. “The week before the Matchplay I basically flipped the switch. It is what it is. We’re just going to go for it. No more moaning.”

That shift in mentality paid off almost immediately. Van Duijvenbode won three matches and reached the World Matchplay semi-finals for the first time in his career.

He also views his equipment differently now. “Maybe I’ll try something with the length of the points, because I think there might be something in that. But in the end, it doesn’t really matter that much anymore. I’ve tried virtually everything. I haven’t found the perfect setup. Then you just have to make do with what you’ve got.”

Even so, Van Duijvenbode admits the equipment issue mainly started playing out in his head. A single dart sitting slightly differently in the board was sometimes enough to bring the doubt straight back.

“If your first dart lands in the treble and it’s hanging a bit, you immediately think: here we go again. While it’s still in the treble. Then you start trying a different point again and you’re instantly pessimistic. That was just my own judgment. In hindsight I also thought: this actually makes no sense.”

As so often, Van Duijvenbode delivered entertainment in Blackpool. All his matches were tense, something he looks back on with a sense of humor. “I grabbed plenty of TV time,” he laughed. “Only to have it taken away from me again in the semi-final.”

There he ran into a rampant Luke Littler, who played at an extraordinary level from the very first leg. “I start nicely with a 174. Then after ten legs you look up at the screen and he’s averaging 118. Then you do think: this is just far too good.”

Strikingly, during that semifinal Van Duijvenbode didn’t so much feel the pressure of Littler’s scoring power, but a different kind of tension. “At a certain point I mainly thought: I really don’t want to win just one or two legs here. That’s obviously not the right mindset. I was annoyed about that afterward.”

He realizes such thoughts arise precisely when an opponent plays at an extraordinary level. “You can hardly avoid it when someone throws that well. But I do blame myself for it. However good someone is, you just have to keep doing your own thing.”

At the same time, he remains realistic about the level Littler produced. “You’re simply not going to beat that level. Period. Sure, if I play a brilliant match right away, something might happen, but generally you don’t win that kind of match. I could have put in a better performance than I ultimately did. I’m disappointed about that.”

Of the three victories in Blackpool, Van Duijvenbode draws the most confidence from his match against Gary Anderson. “Definitely the one against Anderson. My darts were landing well in the board then too.”

He did notice the uncertainty of recent months hasn’t fully disappeared. “You notice you get a bit more nervous when you haven’t performed much and you need to close out a match. I actually had that in all three of the matches I won. Fortunately, I managed to get all three over the line.”

He hopes that experience will help him for the rest of the season. “Now you just hope it gives you more confidence and that things only get better at the next tournaments.”

Van Duijvenbode also took care of Michael van Gerwen during the tournament, but he doesn’t want to speak of any psychological edge. “No, I don’t feel that way. The match before that I had just lost a final to him.”

He does admire the unshakeable self-belief of the former world champion. “I think Michael still considers himself the best player in the world. I can learn a lot from that confidence.”