Van Barneveld looks ahead to Grand Slam of Darts return: "I can beat anyone if my head is right and my darts are ok"

Raymond van Barneveld has returned to the tour this season claiming a title on the ProTour after his short lived retirement and despite still having his prior thoughts about the floor tournaments, he is glad to be back.

"It's not a secret that I don't really like floor tournaments because it's too early for me. Starting at 12 and then practicing at 9 before you head to the tournament, for me it's not really fantastic," said Van Barneveld to The Darts Show podcast.

"I never thought I could do that again on the floor and especially in the first week. There are 30 events and I missed only one, it's good to be back and see all the familiar faces and I must say the level of the sport is unbelievably good."

The doyen of Dutch darts will be back at the Grand Slam of Darts which was one of his greatest triumphs of his initial career and he spoke of how it was always in his mind after ProTour defeats.

"We had three ProTours upfront and all three days, I put the door wide open missing doubles. It was a bit of double trouble this week but when I lost to Tuesday, I said I'm going to qualify for Friday. That was in my system, that was in my head."

"I had a bye in the first round and then I played the winner of Ryan Meikle and Alan Soutar, I beat Alan 5-3, it was a great game. then I beat Danny Noppert and in the last game against Brendan Dolan, I think Brendan missed four darts for 5-3 and in the last leg he missed 72 on double 20. I was really over the moon to be back."

For Van Barneveld though, he is pleased to be back at the Grand Slam but sees it merely as a bonus after achieving his initial aims of a World Championship spot and claiming his Tour Card as he discussed his group.

"I think everyone who qualified for this tournament they can play at the highest level. Like I said this year I'm aiming for the World Championship and getting my Tour Card so everything upfront to the World Championship, I see it as a bonus. I can't wait to play on stage again with this amazing crowd and I'm going to do my very best. Of course I can beat Gary, I can beat anyone if my head is right and my darts are ok."