Martijn Kleermaker on decision to quit as professional darter: ''Mentally it was so terribly tough''

Martijn Kleermaker has quit professional darts for the time being. Kleermaker was a guest on Viaplay last Saturday afternoon, where he talked about his decision to quit as a professional dart player, among other things.

Kleermaker did not manage to qualify for the World Darts Championship this year. On the podcast Double Top, the 32-year-old Dutchman revealed that due to private problems, he is in serious doubt whether he will continue his darts career next year. After his participation in the Grand Slam of Darts, where he fell in the group stage, Kleermaker indicated that he has definitely decided to hand in his Tour Card.

At Viaplay, Kleermaker explains why he decided to quit as a professional darter. "It's been a simple decision. Last year I broke up with the mother of my children. Then this year you try to put everything down as best you can and then you find out that it is very difficult to combine co-parenting and the busy schedule of the PDC."

For Kleermaker, 2023 was a tough year mentally. ''Despite all the problems, I was still close to qualifying for the World Darts Championship and the Players Championship Finals. Only mentally it was so terribly tough. Then you have to make a choice; do you want to go on like this and face a mental torture, or do you choose what is the most important thing you have. Those are your two boys.''

For Kleermaker, while playing tournaments there came a mental pinch point. "If things don't go well there for a while you think: I could have gone out and done fun things with the kids today," he said. Kleermaker felt his darts career was coming at the expense of the children. ''I want to be there for them and I can't do that from abroad. Then it's basically not a hard choice, then you put your own career aside.''

Kleermaker indicated at the end of the interview that he has not yet said a final goodbye to darts. ''I'm basically young. I can still return to darts. My ambition is to return to Q-School, when the kids are a little older, and then take my chance to return to the professional circuit.''