“It was terrible. But when you look at him now, you can at least see some potential improvement” - Vincent van der Voort sees Dimitri Van den Bergh slowly improving on the oche

The freefall of Dimitri Van den Bergh on the world rankings is worrying, but according to Vincent van der Voort there are still signs of recovery despite everything. In the podcast Darts Draait Door, the former professional darter spoke at length about the Belgian’s difficult spell, who has now dropped well down the rankings and has barely posted any results this season.

Van den Bergh recently surrendered more points and now sits outside the world’s top 32. Even so, Van der Voort spotted small positives in his match against Danny Noppert at the UK Open. “I did see some positive signs in his match against Danny Noppert,” he said. “His rhythm looked better and he’s changed his throw. It looked more comfortable than before. If he keeps working on that, it might become more stable."

According to Van der Voort, the lack of self-belief is currently the biggest issue for the former UK Open champion. “He still has absolutely no confidence at the moment — probably even less than zero. And getting Noppert in the first round is a very tough draw."

The darter from Purmerend stressed that it is hard for players in such a phase to rebuild confidence, especially when results keep disappointing. Van den Bergh was barely on television for a long time and looked weak at the World Championship. “That was terrible,” Van der Voort said of his Worlds performance. “Yes, it was terrible. But when you look at him now, with the new throw, you can at least see some potential improvement. I think he feels more comfortable with this throw than he did one or two months ago."

Van der Voort believes the solution isn’t only in practice, but above all in winning matches again, even if that’s at a lower level. “Now it’s about practising a lot and winning matches again. Maybe he should even play smaller local tournaments. Go play tournaments against players who are much weaker. Just win some matches again. That feeling of winning is important."

The former UK Open finalist knows from experience how hard it is to get out of a negative spiral. “I remember having a Pro Tour run where I lost in the first round of seven events in a row. When you arrive at the eighth tournament, you’re not walking in thinking: 'Right, everyone’s going down today.' Every double suddenly feels uncertain. Everything becomes harder. The only way out of that is by winning matches again.”

According to Van der Voort, that is exactly the problem for Van den Bergh right now. The level on the ProTour is so high that it’s tough to suddenly regain confidence there. “on the Pro Tour he’s probably not going to win many matches right now. So he needs to find those wins elsewhere.”

Van den Bergh isn’t the only one under pressure. Raymond van Barneveld is also in a bad spot in the rankings and even risks missing out on the World Championship. Van der Voort sees that as a serious warning. “If you look at the Worlds race, it’s a shock. Van Barneveld isn’t in a good position either. Those are serious problems.”

Van der Voort says that with experienced players a different factor often comes into play than with younger darters. While the talent is still there, the edge or the need to do everything sometimes isn’t. He was reminded of Peter Wright’s recent interview, which surprised him. “I saw an interview with Peter Wright yesterday and it really surprised me,” he said. “He said he’s currently on 49 titles and would like to finish his career with around 55. He’d also like to win another major — maybe the World Grand Prix or the Grand Slam — before he stops. But realistically, he’s still quite far away from winning something like that right now."

Van der Voort emphasised this isn’t a critique of Wright’s career, but an observation of how hard it is nowadays to keep competing at the top level. “ I don’t mean that in a negative way — he’s had an incredible career. He’s won big tournaments, reached plenty of finals, is a two-time world champion, has won the World Matchplay, the World Cup twice, the European Championship, and he’s been world number one. But if you ask whether he’ll win the Grand Prix again — that’s going to be difficult."

Still, the Dutchman believes no one from the outside should decide when a player should quit. “That’s what Wright said as well — people always say he should stop, but that’s entirely his own decision. It’s the same with Van Barneveld. Players like that get to decide for themselves when they stop. As long as they still enjoy it, they should keep going."