Van Gerwen on big names falling during opening day at Players Championship Finals: "If I went out of the tournament, it wouldn't bother them"

Michael van Gerwen saw off Ryan Meikle successfully on the opening day of the Players Championship Finals and with all the big names falling around him, he now continues his role as the favourite and he says while he loves to play the big names, if he went out, it wouldn't be of any note to them.

"That's what you have to do if you want to win this tournament, you have to win your games. That's the only thing that matters. I know Ryan's a good guy and a good player and I think he did well in some patches but somehow I played ok, I felt ok and that's the only thing you have to do," said Van Gerwen.

"Anything can happen, you can see throughout the other top boys in this format you have to be really sharp if you want to win your game."

"Everyone who knows me a little bit knows I love to play the top boys. If they lose, they lose. It's part of the game. If I went out of the tournament, it wouldn't bother them so that's all it is."

Speaking after his Grand Slam loss, he said he felt ill and he gave an update on how he is currently. "Sometimes you feel better than other days and when you don't feel well, you can lose. You don't want to be in that position but unfortunately that's fact."

Summing up his year also, Van Gerwen believes there is still a lot more in the locker heading into a busy end to 2022. "I know I can do a lot more if you look average wise but if you look at what I've won this year, I've done a great job but there's still a lot of big tournaments coming up."