MVG: I LOST MY MAGIC DUTCH
Star admits deep dive into his game in bid to rediscover form
CHASTENED Michael van Gerwen has revealed he held a big inquest into his latest World Championship blowout at Alexandra Palace.
Clog Almighty lost two major finals in 2023 but his worst performance was a 5-3 defeat by former forklift truck driver Scott Williams in the quarter-finals at Ally Pally.
It was the latest in a series of bizarre exits from the tournament, including contracting Covid and an unprecedented 5-0 whitewash by Dave Chisnall, and he admitted: “It shows that sport doesn’t stand still for anyone.”
Van Gerwen was already smarting from his UK Open final defeat by Andrew Gilding, and blowing a winning hand against Luke Humphries in the Players Championship finals, when his game went to pieces against Williams. At a painstaking autopsy of his flop with practice partner and fellow Dutchman Vincent van der Voort, MVG sifted through the wreckage and concluded: “A lot of small things can make one big problem and that’s what happened.
“The big problem was losing that game, but my problem was dealing with all the small mistakes and I’ve got to make sure I don’t make them again. It wasn’t only at Ally Pally – it was a pattern last year.
“I sat down with my mate Vincent and we went through a lot of footage – how do you see darts, how do you breathe darts? Sometimes it goes away a little bit, but it only needs to be a little bit awry for things to go wrong and make a problem.
“We studied everything and agreed where we can do it better, where we can find the extra one or two per cent to make a difference.
“I’ve been in that position loads of times before, and I’m still the man to beat. I’m still the one everyone is glad to see get knocked out of a tournament.”
Van Gerwen hit the winning trail again by beating Luke Littler in the Dutch Darts Masters final last month.
The three-times world champion said: “Why do I keep playing? Because the thing that gives me a great life is playing great darts.
“Sport doesn’t stand still for anyone. Even at the top, you have to keep moving on, you can’t stay still.
“It didn’t stop for Michael Smith when he became world champion, it doesn’t stop for the greatest footballers and when new people appear on the block, it’s good for the sport.
“You have to face the new challenges, you have to overcome them.”