"I've realized that even on stage, a darts board is just a darts board" - De Decker beginning to settle on the big stage

Mike De Decker performed excellently at the Hungarian Darts Trophy last weekend. 'The Real Deal' made it to the quarter-finals after wins against Josh Rock and Michael Smith, among others.

De Decker has now climbed to 39th in the world rankings. "I had a good weekend. To be honest, beforehand I had told my manager not to be upset if I made it to at least the quarterfinals. Next time I'm going to say I'm going to win the tournament (laughter)," De Decker told Het Nieuwsblad."No, seriously. It's been going well f or a while and I really felt like I was going to perform. When I saw the draw, I did think 'howla'. First Andrew Gilding, then Josh Rock and then Michael Smith. Spicy!"

De Decker used to have stage fright, but that has since gone away. "Playing on a stage doesn't matter much to me anymore," it sounds. "I also do it more and more. Recently, some of my matches at floor tournaments were broadcast via streaming and since then, for some reason, I've clicked. I've realized that even on stage, a darts board is just a darts board. I even enjoy it now and have fun with it, from the walk-on to the whole atmosphere around it. Before, that was pure stress for me and of: Oy, they're watching me. Now I know that it's an advantage when the audience is on your side. That I also show a little more emotion? Yeah, it doesn't help if the audience supports you and then you start playing the 'dry barry'."

European Championship

The 27-year-old Belgian only narrowly missed participation in the European Championship. "I don't regret missing the European Championship. I wasn't really worried about that. It was my fourth Euro Tour event out of twelve... And if I won, it wasn't certain that I would be there. I was just on. Sunday was a really long day. After my match against Smith, I had 3.5 hours off. I didn't really know what to do so I stayed in the hall. But that made me woke and lazy, my energy just disappeared more and more."

It was only the first time De Decker made it to Sunday on a Euro Tour. "That's experience you miss. I ran into Michael van Gerwen and he advised me to go back to the hotel. I didn't think that was worth it, though. If I made the drive there and had showered, I could almost return already. And I know myself: if I had laid down on the bed, I would have stayed down. But yes, so here I ignored Van Gerwen's advice for a while (laughs)."

Second Belgian

De Decker will take on Joe Cullen in the opening round of the World Grand Prix, whom he lost to in the first round of the World Matchplay earlier this year. If he performs well, he can advance further up the world rankings and perhaps become the second Belgian (Kim Huybrechts is now ranked 30th) behind Dimitri Van den Bergh (14th). "I'm not constantly working on that, but it's better to have the top 32 in my sights rather than the top 64. I've always said I want to have done the World Cup (the nations tournament, ed.) at least once. That's a goal. If not next year, then the year after. I'll do my thing and Kim will do his thing, we'll see."