Kuivenhoven on mindset in facing Van Gerwen after shock win: “I had never lost to him. It was also the first time that I met Van Gerwen”

Maik Kuivenhoven caused a major shock last Sunday by defeating Michael van Gerwen in the first round of the eighth Players Championship. The second round though was the end of the story for the 31-year-old Dutchman.

However, Kuivenhoven was initially not made up with the draw. "I have that again", he sent a message to some friends. At the same time, he encouraged himself: “I had never lost to him. It was also the first time that I met Van Gerwen ”, Kuivenhoven laughs in an interview with AD.nl.

The 31-year-old Dutchman quickly went 4-1 against Van Gerwen, but saw him return to 4-4 and later 5-5. In the last leg he was at 54 and he immediately managed to finish it in two darts, while Mighty Mike was waiting for 48. “At Players Championships there is no crowd, the boards are pretty close together and his players on other boards are full of concentration. So I was not allowed to cheer too loudly. But otherwise I would have screamed loudly. Now it was just a first bump. Michael gave me a nice handshake and congratulated me.” In the next round he went out against Irishman Gavin Carlin. "Shame, but then I was throwing very badly myself."

Last tournament for a while?

Due to the coronavirus crisis, it remains to be seen when new tournaments will follow. “We were advised in Barnsley to wash our hands regularly and things like that. But some tournaments have already been cancelled. I understand that too. Darters travel halfway around the world and that's how you could spread the virus. Moreover, there are already some airports closed and darters from those countries will not be able to participate if tournaments do continue. Now I just wait for what will happen. ”

Kuivenhoven is going to work hard in the coming weeks to head towards securing his Tour Card he revealed, "I was 79th for this weekend, but the gap to 64th place is still pretty big. I think I have to earn about 40,000 euros the rest of this year to get there. If I keep throwing like the last few weeks, that's possible. ”