"The very best of Mike De Decker is yet to come" - Just how high can World Grand Prix champion aim?

Mike De Decker won the World Grand Prix last Sunday. During the final against Luke Humphries, he was loudly encouraged by his best friend Ludovic Rubais, who had travelled to Leicester especially to assist De Decker.

Rubais tells his story at Het Nieuwsblad a day after De Decker's first major. "I did lose my voice a bit after that final and I also have a bit of a headache," he begins. "But I'm here in bed next to our champion, so everything is okay. He turned out here and won a big trophy, unbelievable. We did expect a shock somewhere because of the draw because he's throwing extremely well, but still. Winning that World Grand Prix is from a different level anyway."

"He threw home two world champions along the way," he continues, noting Gary Anderson and Luke Humphries who fell to De Decker. "And then that match against Dimi, that was mentally the toughest anyway since they know each other so well. But he has a trophy here in his room. Two actually, one that he gets to keep and then a big challenge cup."

De Decker had been known as an excellent player on the floor tournaments for many years; on the stage, however, things mostly went awry until this tournament. Thanks in part to Rubais and the other members of friend group D'Abi'S (Jordy, Michael, Jimmy and Gianni), however, De Decker was able to make things click. "We knew beforehand that there would be one reference match in between, after which we would think, 'Okay, that could be something here.' The one in the first round against Heta was already one, but especially the one against two-time world champion Anderson (which De Decker won 3-0, ed.) was one to remember. He's really turned around, mentally. He is not afraid of anyone anymore, on the contrary. He thinks now: 'Everyone is afraid of me'."

"When I went along to tournaments a few years ago, after the draw they thought they 'only' had to play against Mike. Now they are shocked when they see his name paired with theirs. Now that translates on stage, too. He no longer crawls into his shell when an opponent does something great, like throw a 180. Mike just throws one against them smoothly now."

By the way, on the day of the finals, De Decker had to rush to find a new pair of pants when his zipper had failed. Fortunately, one was quickly found at the local H&M. Rubais had then just arrived to encourage his friend in the final. "Yeah, I just felt something was coming. So I flew there in a hurry by plane so I didn't have to miss out. And luckily in England, many stores are open on Sundays, for his pants. He had chosen one right away, too. Whether these will be his lucky pants from now on? Who knows, this time it was already a success."

So Rubais and De Decker have been good friends for years, although the first acquaintance was not immediately smooth. "It was 2013 and he decided to put on a big mouth," Rubais laughs. "I was playing for the national team then, along with Brian Raman and Viani Van den Bergh (brother of Dimitri, ed.), among others. We were in a group together with Mike in the pre-show of Open Belgium and he played us all home, after which he said like, 'Amai, is that now the national team?' And I couldn't shut up, so that was not so clean all for a while (laughs). But a bit later we left for England together and he's been my best mate ever since."

"More than a decade ago we were playing for 100 euros, now here he was pitching for 120,000 pounds. A crazy evolution. Our connection is pretty natural or something. We know perfectly well what to say or do before, during and after matches. And to think I'm sure Mike's very best is yet to come. There are still big trophies to come!"