Van Gerwen 'sick to death' after defeat to Whitlock at Grand Slam of Darts

Rarely was Michael van Gerwen so disappointed in himself after losing a darts match as on Sunday evening. The 31-year-old Dutchman lost in the Quarter-Finals of the Grand Slam of Darts to Simon Whitlock after missing eight match-darts.

Van Gerwen was sick to death from this defeat, he admitted afterwards to Dutch broadcaster RTL 7. ''It simply cannot go wrong when you have eight match-darts. If you mess up, then you're just an incredible d*ck. If you miss so many match-darts, then you have to pack your stuff and just go home. I'm so disappointed.''

The three-time world champion was satisfied with his game until the leg-decider. "I was just steady, but he kept the pressure on it. He kept doing the right things at the right times. I think I deserved to win, even though he was of course scoring fantastic with twenty 180's. Besides that, I was the boss on the stage. Then you are disappointed if you dont win. I'm sick to death about it, really sick.''

Van Gerwen got his first match-darts at 15-14. First on the bullseye, then two another darts on double 4. He missed another five at 15-15 in the leg-decider. "The first two darts after missing the bullseye were tight on the wire'', he looked back on these misses.

''The darts after that had so much pressure on them. Then you can miss, but you shouldn't. I really blame myself for that. I think people underestimate what this does to you. I'm so fed up with this, unbelievable. I was on my way back to my good form and then you lose such a match and that makes it really tough.''