Van Gerwen confident ahead of UK Open title defence: "I'm still the man to beat like always"

Michael van Gerwen heads into this weekend's UK Open as the defending champion after claiming the title for a third time 12 months ago.

As ever, Van Gerwen is confident of taking it home again and still believes despite losing his World Number One spot to Gerwyn Price that he is the player to beat.

"It's one of the biggest tournaments of the year and one that I enjoy," said Van Gerwen.

"It's something different, it's like the FA Cup with the open draw format. That make is harder to prepare because you don't know who you are going to play.

"I need to make sure I use my experience to achieve a good level of performance.

"By the end of the year I want to try and be world number one again, bit it's going to be really tough because the prize money for the World Championship winner is massive.

"I'm still the man to beat like always. I need to handle the pressure and make sure I play well."