"I'm better in practice than I was then, but I think mentally I'm not as good": Dirk van Duijvenbode laments cheap losses with belief of being better than 'prime'

Dirk van Duijvenbode came from 3-0 and 4-1 down to defeat Viktor Tingstrom in the first round of the World Series of Darts Finals on home soil at the AFAS Live in Amsterdam on Thursday evening.

Van Duijvenbode managed to win 6-5 in the end, and given recent first-round exits, he admitted that he was fearing the first early on in the contest about it perhaps happening again.

But the Titan, buoyed by being in front of a home crowd and also being in front of his family, including his partner, admitted that it boosted him as he managed to come from an early match slump to win 6-5 and reach Saturday's action in Holland. He said that usually he might perhaps accept it but didn't want to go into the World Grand Prix too with the losing feeling after the last few weeks.

"Yeah, of course, and I was all right in the first half, the first two legs, but then 2-0 down, and I was like, 'Well, at some point you start doubting a bit because, I mean, I felt like I was playing great darts, and then you lose,' like I played well in Budapest, and then you lose in the first round, and I mean, I'm not, if I'm being honest, obviously that gives you some insecurity for this game. Normally you'd say it's okay, but now you feel like I don't want to lose again the first round, and next week is the World Grand Prix," said Van Duijvenbode to Online Darts.

"So maybe something slipped in there in my mind, and I boosted myself with some roars, and I got family in there, and it was like, 'Okay,' like my missus was there, and you feel like, 'Okay, she's away from the kids. Kids don't like that. You don't want to do that for nothing,' and that boosted my mind."

But for Van Duijvenbode, it isn't the disappointment of losing in the semi-finals of the World Matchplay that is keeping him awake at night. He continued that he thinks he's back towards his best and the results aren't showing it.

But not only that, but also his end; he said that he is losing to players that in his prime he would've easily have beaten, and that is annoying him as he puts in these displays and doesn't get what he deserves. So while he is on a good track now, the cheap losses are the issue.

"Not a frustration thinking of the Matchplay, but obviously it's a frustration because the frustration is that, okay, I feel like I'm back and then you don't have a result.

"Yeah, I mean, I'm going to say it, I lose to people where I was in my prime, like prime. Prime is not the word, but when I was playing really well for many years in a row, now I'm losing to people I didn't lose to then, or like I'm losing games, the games I didn't lose to. It's not about people, but it's like back in the days when I was in form, I wouldn't go below 97 average, and now you're playing 93 games, 90 games. I'm like, 'Oh, what are you doing, man?'"

But he also said that in his view he is practising better now and playing better than in his prime, so it is firmly just about bringing that up onto the stage now, which also provides a bone of contention his way

"I think I don't; I just don't understand it, and at some point you have to accept it, and then sometimes when you accept it, when you're not good, then you can still win the game. That's actually what I did today, in a way, you know what I mean? Okay, they're not falling, but battle them, because sometimes.

"I mean, the way I practise, I'm really good in practice, like really, really good, and I always know, I don't, it's almost impossible to show that game on stage because that would almost be, I would break records then, and obviously I'm not the only one that can, is capable of doing it.

"But sometimes you have to accept that you're not the best, but accept that you are not at your best or not good, but accept and then battle. That's, I think, what I did today."

"I'm better in practice than I was then, but I think mentally I'm not as good as I was then, and that will take time, but I believe I can do it, because I'm not yet doing everything I did back then, but I feel in practice sometimes – well, not even sometimes, I think I'm better than I was then, but I need to get it together, and when it gets together, I believe I'll be better than then."