Van Barneveld practicing harder than ever during darting comeback: “There are days when I am already throwing at 9am”

Raymond Van Barneveld’s comeback has been going on for several months and with already a PDC title in his pocket, Barney's return can already be described as a success.

Compared to previous years, Van Barneveld also faithfully gave all Pro Tour tournaments his time. A tight training regime and a different mindset have ensured this improved mentality.

"I train a few hours every day. Harder than ever, but that is also what my coach Iwe Kuitert and training mate Jeffrey de Zwaan demand. There are days when I am already throwing at 9 o'clock in the morning," he said to Sportnieuws.nl .

Sometimes this change is still getting used to for the five-time world champion, who certainly does not call himself a morning person. "Every now and then I think: 'let me sleep in man, why so early?' But not everyone handles it the same way. Ultimately I do it to create the best rhythm for myself and to perform from there."

In the last years before his retirement, Van Barneveld hated floor tournaments. Barney managed to win just one tournament at the end of February, which was his first ranking title since 2013.

"I was less keen on that at the time. After more than 35 years of darts at the highest level, I had seen those tournaments. Those days in Barnsley and Wigan were against me." Now he sees it differently.

"Suppose I had my first game at 12 o'clock, then I was throwing in at 9 o'clock."

And at that time Van Barneveld was still in sleep mode, but the morning training sessions with De Zwaan make these floor tournaments easier to digest.

"I went there under the guise of 'we'll see'. That's not the attitude of course, that's why I fell out of all the rankings. That's why we train so hard for it now.”