"If you can win against Humphries, you can win against anyone": Raymond van Barneveld's mantra ahead of World Matchplay

Raymond van Barneveld gets to go straight into action Saturday night on the first matchday of the World Matchplay. It is for 'Barney' his fourteenth participation in the prestigious tournament, which is sometimes called the summer World Championship.

Van Barneveld has had a steady season. The five-time world champion won a Players Championship tournament in March and often advances at least one or two rounds in the tournaments. The Dutchman is still playing with the set of darts that Target Darts made for him just before the World Darts Championship. Van Barneveld was praising his new darts at the time, but doubts have now somewhat set in.

''I really thought: everyone needs to put themselves away, because now I've found it! But gradually I started thinking: is this it or not? I expected something more than this setup.'' Van Barneveld is not thinking about new arrows. ''I want to keep throwing with these darts, but I wonder if I should vary the weight: 21, 22, 23, 24 or 25 grams? You actually have to test that, but you don't have time for that. Now I play with 21 grams and that's really good, but I can just as easily throw three consecutive 60s as three consecutive 140s. It has to be more constant. After that win in Hildesheim it went with ups and downs.''

That 'down' came at the Euro Tour tournament in the Netherlands. In Rosmalen, the Dutch dart pioneer had to suffer a 6-1 defeat against Cameron Menzies in the first round. ''That was terrible. I was not to be enjoyed afterwards. The crowd was totally awesome, scanning my name and I stood there full of pride. Then it is very hard when you are the only Dutchman of that night to be beaten completely. He really threw everything, bizarre.''

A few weeks later there was success at the Euro Tour tournament in Leverkusen. There Van Barneveld triumphed in fine fashion against Luke Humphries. At the Players Championship tournaments 'Barney' is also doing well. Only Gary Anderson and Ryan Searle earned more prize money at the Players Championship tournaments so far. ''That's going insane. I'm earning good money so I can't complain about that, although I'm not making huge strides in the world rankings. Then you really have to start performing at a major."

With a good result at the World Matchplay, Van Barneveld can make big strides up the world rankings, though. The prize pool at the tournament in Blackpool contains 800,000 pounds, and is the tournament where the most prize money for the ranking can be grabbed after the World Darts Championship.

''Any match I win at a major is nice, but if you want to make strides you have to start raising your game now. The World Matchplay is in that respect the best tournament to win after the World Championship, but it's not that simple anymore. You can see it in Michael (van Gerwen). He is not playing great. On the contrary. But there is one Mr. Luke Littler and one Luke Humphries who can win."

Barney was there continuously from 2007 to 2018 in Blackpool, before making his return to this event last year. In his first five appearances, Van Barneveld reached at least the quarterfinals each time. In 2010 that resulted in a final place, but in the final 'Barney' lost to his great tormentor Phil Taylor. After 2011, Van Barneveld never made it past the last sixteen.

''It's never been my tournament, also because of the heat,'' Van Barneveld acknowledged. ''Of course, it's always in the middle of summer. Often enough the sweat was in your hands or dripping into your eye. In that respect, it helps that I've lost a huge amount of weight, I don't perspire as much now."

Whether Van Barneveld thinks it is realistic that he will take the title at the World Matchplay? ''If you can win against Humphries, you can win against anyone. That's what I keep telling myself, but you also have to be realistic. Which Jonny Clayton do you face on Saturday? He's searching, but he did win the last Players Championship so surely that means he's starting to come into form. I showed I can play, so that gives me hope. I'm really looking forward to it because I'm bursting with confidence."