INTERVIEW: "I was just happy that I wasn't drawn against Michael van Gerwen or Luke Humphries" - First round vs Rob Cross holds no fear for Gian van Veen at World Matchplay

This weekend, the 2024 World Matchplay is on the calendar from the prestigious tournament’s iconic home of the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. For Dutch prodigy Gian Van Veen, it will be his debut appearance at the PDC’s second biggest ranking event. Ahead of his first round tie with Rob Cross, we caught up with him to get his thoughts!

The 22-year-old has already played on some of the biggest stages in his short career. As mentioned however, this will be ‘The Giant’s first time at one of the sport’s most fabled arenas, the Winter Gardens. “It will be a new one of course and everyone keeps talking about how it’s one of the most beautiful venues. I’m really looking forward to playing there and being there for the first time in Blackpool. It’s a massive step and a massive goal I had and it’s a dream coming true so yeah, I’m really looking forward to it,” Van Veen explains exclusively to Dartsnews.com.

Given the unique and somewhat intimidating nature of the Winter Gardens stage, has the Dutchman asked any of his fellow pros about the feel of the iconic venue? “Yeah I did,” he answers. “Winter Gardens is known for the heat and people complaining about the heat on stage so I wanted to know what it’s like being up there on stage. But, it’s different for every player. Some people can handle it very well, some can’t so we’ll see, but I think I can manage. It’s an all new and different experience, with the fans so close. It will be good.”

It’s fair to say though, that the draw could’ve been a little kinder to Van Veen. In the opening round, 2019 World Matchplay champion Rob Cross awaits. “Of course Rob is a fantastic player and I’m sure it will be a difficult game. I was just happy that I wasn’t drawn against Michael van Gerwen, Luke Humphries or Gerwyn Price for that matter,” Van Veen says, clearly self confident despite the difficult draw. “I’ve played Rob five times, I’ve beaten him three times and it’s always been a close game. So it could’ve been worse, but yeah, he’s a fantastic player so it could have been better as well.”

Cross has been in some good form of late, taking a European Tour title and reaching the final at a trio of World Series of Darts tournaments, winning one. “He’s been picking up some World Series titles, but he’s not played a lot of match play championships, so I don’t know really what his form is like at the moment,” analyses Van Veen, who himself has been throwing well of late and is up into the top 32 of the PDC Order of Merit for the first time. “It’s a dream come true to be in the top 32! Hopefully I’ll still be there at the end of the year for the Worlds, making sure that I at least got one round further than last year. But yeah, it’s a massive step to get into the top 32. I had a goal at the start of the year to make the top 32 and now I’m in it, but I need to make sure I stay in the top 32 and hopefully climb even more places.”

Due to his rise up the rankings, Van Veen is now the fifth ranked Dutchman in the PDC Order of Merit. With the top 2 of each nation representing their country at the World Cup of Darts, it’s not inconceivable that Van Veen could soon be the one partnering Michael van Gerwen. Notably, at the 2024 edition, van Gerwen and Danny Noppert were the Dutch pair although sadly for them, they fell at the first hurdle, being thrashed by Belgium in the last 16 in Frankfurt. “At the end of the year, I think I’ll be quite close to Dirk van Duijvenbode and Raymond van Barneveld. Danny and especially Michael of course, are way in front of me but yeah, it would be a nice bonus to play in the Holland team, in the future at least,” he says, not that Van Veen has given it too much thought so early in his career. “It’s only my second year, so it’s weird for me to think about playing for my own country. But of course it will be a nice bonus to make it even further down the line.”

As mentioned, currently, only the top 2 of each nation are selected for the World Cup of Darts. Recently however, Nathan Aspinall, frustrated by missing out on selection the last two years despite being ranked 5th and 4th respectively, put forward the idea of larger squads for the international tournament. If this were to come to fruition, Van Veen could be a beneficiary. “For sure if they want more players for the Netherlands then I would be in probably!” Van Veen laughs. “It would be nice, but the PDC has got a lot of different ideas about certain tournaments so we’ll see what happens.” 

Whilst bigger squads could see Van Veen get the World Cup nod for the Netherlands earlier than predicted, the same could be said for Luke Littler for the England team. Van Veen and Littler have had many battles over the last couple of years, finishing one and two on the Development Tour in 2023 and going head to head in the 2023 World Youth Championship final. At the 2024 World Matchplay, Littler will be also making his tournament debut and has been given a nightmare draw of a first round tie with Michael van Gerwen. “It will be a fascinating game. That Monday evening session is stacked with good games and first round matches that could be semis or even finals,” Van Veen analyses. “I’m sure I’ll be watching. Whether I win or lose, I’ll be watching because it’ll be a high standard game at the Winter Gardens and the debut for Luke as well, I’m looking forward to what that game brings and what he can do.”

Littler has gone from strength to strength since bursting onto the scene at the most recent World Darts Championship, taking title on the World Series, the European Tour, the Pro Tour and even winning the Premier League Darts in his debut campaign. Given Van Veen actually finished ahead of ‘The Nuke’ in the overall rankings of the Development Tour in 2023, has the Dutchman been inspired by the success of his rival? “Nah, not really,” Van Veen answers. “Of course it’s nice, he’s doing great and it’s great what he’s doing for the sport itself. But I’m not really comparing myself to him, at least not anymore. Of course, last year we played Development Tour against each other, the Youth World Championship final, but after the World Championship everything has just gone super quick for him and he’s doing fantastic so I’m not really comparing myself to him anymore because I’d be pretty desperate after a couple of weeks! But yeah, he’s doing fantastic as I say and especially what he’s doing for the sport now, fair play to him.”

Whilst Van Veen and Littler are in the same half of the draw, being in separate quarters means they won’t be able to meet until the semi-finals, not that Van Veen is looking that far ahead just yet. “My target is just to win a game. I’m playing in all the major events this year and if I just win a game in each major I’ll be happy,” he explains. “Of course, I’m dreaming of who knows, maybe make a final, a semi or even picking up the title. But I think it’s too soon so just win my first game and take it game by game.”

“I know I’m getting Damon Heta or Ryan Searle after Cross but after that I don’t really know. We’ll just see what happens. Rob is of course a fantastic player, then Damon and Ryan are fantastic as well so it should be a tough quarter that I’m in,” he assesses.

Sadly for Van Veen, in the most recent block of Pro Tour events prior to the World Matchplay, it was a first round and a second round exit. Hardly the ideal run in to his Blackpool debut. “Being a seed, my draw wasn’t really favourable. I got Richard Veenstra, Niels Zonneveld, two in form players and I probably should have both games but Richard let me in and missed a couple of match darts so at least I won one game!” Van Veen laughs. “But no it wasn’t a fantastic Players Championships for me. But I’ve left that all behind me, I’ve had a week and a half of practice before the World Matchplay getting ready to be there, which I’m doing now. I’m looking forward to playing on that stage and yeah, the Pro Tour is behind me.”

As he mentions there, ahead of his World Matchplay debut, Van Veen has been hitting the practice board at home. “I’ve been practising a bit more, but I’m not like doing five or six hours a day,” he explains. “I don’t want to overdo it and put too much pressure on myself when it’s not happening in the first few legs and things. Thinking to myself; ‘Why did I do all this?’ So I’m just doing my normal routine and maybe, once or twice a day extra. Instead of one hour, maybe two, two and a half hours a day but yeah, it’s going well and I’m really enjoying it.”

Van Veen’s World Matchplay debut takes place this coming Sunday with, as mentioned, former tournament winner and former world champion, Rob Cross his opponent. Can the talented Dutch youngster cause what would be a slight upset and knock out the sixth seed? Only time will tell but we don’t have long to wait now!