“That’s something he’s still struggling with right now” – Van der Voort sees one lingering weak spot in Van Gerwen’s game

In the latest episode of the Darts Draait Door podcast, Vincent van der Voort and Damian Vlottes took a deep dive into the current top two Dutchmen, Michael van Gerwen and Gian van Veen, who are gearing up for the first major tournament of 2026: the Winmau World Masters.

According to Van der Voort, Van Gerwen has immediately shown strong form at the start of an important 2026. The Dutchman won the Bahrain Darts Masters right away and also reached the final in Saudi Arabia. After two tough years, his close friend believes it is time to get back in the elevator going up. With his World Series performances, ‘MVG’ again looks like a man to beat, though Van der Voort still sees a sore spot: too many missed doubles. “That’s something that still bothers him at the moment. He’s not as reliable on his doubles as he used to be,” said ‘Fast Vinny.’

“But I do think he left a good impression across those two tournaments. He’s building nicely into the rest of the season. He’s beaten a lot of top players, and he’s still far from where he wants to be, but you can see that when he’s okay, he’s better than almost everyone. I’m really convinced that Van Gerwen can live with Littler and beat him. He’s so strong mentally that he can definitely do that.”

Van der Voort does feel, however, that there is room to fine-tune his mentality. “He has to live fully for darts. He also needs to be aware of what his opponents are doing. It looks like he’s doing that now. The hard work has to be done at home. In tournaments he always did his best as long as he was in them. But now it has to happen at home.”

That is where the danger lies for Van Gerwen, according to the ex-pro. “In the winter months it’s always easier to keep that up than in the summer, when there are more temptations. So we’ll see how long he can keep this going, but for now it’s going well. Let’s hope it stays that way.”

For Van Veen, everything changes from this year on. After his phenomenal World Championship, where he lost the final to Littler, he has to live with a new status as the world number 3. He could ease into it at the World Series events in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, but with the World Masters approaching, he now has to back up that status as one of the favorites straight away.

He opens his campaign against the Englishman Ryan Joyce. On paper he should win that match, but Vincent van der Voort wonders how he will handle this new pressure. “Joyce is always a tough customer, especially in such a short format. You never list him as a contender and you always underestimate him. His style isn’t pretty, his darts don’t sit nicely in the board and it’s really not fluent. But he’s a very good player.”

He also wonders where Van Veen stands now that all eyes will be on him. “He’s starting a whole new trajectory now. His status is completely different compared to a year ago. He’s now the world number three, and that basically means he has to reach at least the semi-finals. That’s not easy. In Bahrain and Saudi Arabia he handled his new status very well. But this is a ranking, now it really starts. We’ll see where he’s at.”

If he beats Joyce, a possible second-round clash with Nathan Aspinall awaits. “There are no gimmes, but these days it doesn’t matter what the name is, it’s how the player is throwing.” According to Van der Voort, that’s no different for ‘The Giant.’ “He’s level-headed enough and calm enough, so I don’t think much will change for him. We’ll just have to see how this plays out for him,” he concluded.