Illness behind Michael van Gerwen's off colour World Grand Prix display according to Vincent van der Voort

For Michael van Gerwen the World Grand Prix ended in a big disappointment. The 35-year-old Dutchman went down 2-0 in the opening round against Daryl Gurney. However, there appeared to be a logical explanation.

Van Gerwen did not even manage to win a leg against Gurney, but at Viaplay, his good friend and companion Vincent van der Voort came up with a logical explanation for Van Gerwen's lackluster performance. "He's got something under the skin," Van der Voort said at Viaplay. "It was a gamble to go there. If it hadn't been the World Grand Prix, but a Euro Tour, he wouldn't have gone."

After his victory at the Hungarian Darts Trophy and a title at the Players Championship, Van Gerwen seemed to have regained the good form. However, he had to cancel the following tournaments due to illness. So was it a good idea to participate in the World Grand Prix anyway? "That's always in hindsight, because if he wins that match and he plays okay then you say it's all good again," Van der Voort said. "You don't just cancel for tournaments like this either."

There's another busy autumn ahead with plenty of top tournaments such as the European Championship, the Grand Slam of Darts, the Players Championship Finals and, of course, the Darts World Cup. Van Gerwen is currently not the defending champion at any major and is yearning for another final victory at one of these tournaments. Van der Voort, however, is looking at his buddy's health first. "The first thing is that the virus has to be dealt with. He has something that needs to get out. Now he needs to see the doctor as soon as possible. This is a tick, but there are so many big tournaments to come."