Josh Rock showed the hype was real at the Grand Slam of Darts last week by throwing a nine-darter in his match against Michael van Gerwen. Earlier this year, the 21-year-old Northern Irishman had also won a Players Championship.
"But the hype needs to be tempered a bit," Martijn Kleermaker, a professional darts player himself, told Viaplay. "It's only his first year on the Pro Tour and if he gets too much pressure from outside, the danger is that his career will be over quickly."
Van Tergouw
"We've also seen that from Justin van Tergouw," Kleermaker continued. "He was also a very big talent at the time and he is still young, but you hardly hear anything about it. Maybe too much pressure has been put on him as well."
Kleermaker also likes to cite the example of Michael van Gerwen. "Michael won the Winmau World Masters at seventeen. But after his move to the PDC, it also took about five years before he reached the top there."