Players hoped to avoid Van Gerwen at World Grand Prix: ''For many players, of course, I'm a nightmare''

Michael van Gerwen starts the World Grand Prix on Tuesday night as the defending champion. 'Mighty Mike' has fond memories of the double-in double-out tournament.

Indeed, in 2012, Van Gerwen managed to win his first PDC major at the World Grand Prix. Since then, the Vlijmen native has won the unique event six times.

''It has a nice format,'' Van Gerwen said of the tournament format to VTM 2. ''I do think the first round is always a little 'dodgy' because of the short format (best of 3 sets), but I definitely think it's a fun tournament to play.''

The number two in the world rankings will play World Youth Champion, Josh Rock in the first round. Van Gerwen already fought some great matches with the 22-year-old Northern Irishman over the past year and a half. 'Mighty Mike' knows he has to be sharp to avoid an early elimination.

''I just like seeing young guys at work and wanting to put everything into it to play well. That's just great for darts. He obviously came like a comet. Now he's stabilized a little more. It's still ok, but we haven't seen the real brilliance in recent months. That says nothing for this match. It remains a match in itself and again I will have to go into this match one hundred percent.''

If Van Gerwen wins against Rock, he will play Dimitri van den Bergh or Chris Dobey in the second round. With that possible match, the Dutchman is not yet concerned for a single moment. That does not apply to Van den Bergh, who in another interview with VTM 2 already cautiously looked ahead to the possible encounter with Van Gerwen and stated that he is determined to beat Van Gerwen one day.

''That Dimitri is already working on that, that's his big mistake,'' Van Gerwen believes. ''If you say at the beginning of the tournament, 'then I come out against that one and then against that one,' that's a rookie mistake. I look at it match by match. For a lot of players, of course, I'm a nightmare, I know that. That's how it goes. I only have to worry about myself. What someone else does is none of my business, I have no influence on that anyway,'' Van Gerwen said.