Michael van Gerwen’s first plan was initially to return to the Netherlands during the Darts World Cup, but the three-time world champion has decided to stay in London. This all has to do with the situation around corona in both the Netherlands and England.
,,I will stay in England”, Van Gerwen said in London after his victory (3-1 in sets) in the second round over Chas Barstow. ,,I actually decided at the last minute with my wife. me, ‘Don’t worry, stay there. Don’t get yourself into unnecessary trouble and do your own thing’.”
During the World Cup, Van Gerwen will only return to action after Christmas, before that time only matches from the first and second round will be played in Alexandra Palace. ,,I will prepare myself with Vincent for his match in the coming days”, he refers to fellow darts player and good friend Vincent van der Voort, for whom the World Cup starts on Tuesday with a match against Adam Hunt. Christmas here, but Christmas doesn’t matter to me.”
Of course Van Gerwen will miss his family in the coming period, but he has only one goal. “This is a big part of my life. I love my children more than anyone else, they also give me a lot of energy. But right now there is only one thing that matters and that is winning the world championship. My wife, family and friends know that too.”
For the time being, a few thousand dart fans visit the London darts temple Alexandra Palace every day, and that while the corona infections due to the omikron variant are increasing considerably. Yesterday, more than 90,000 new infections were reported in Great Britain. In addition, a hard lockdown was announced in the Netherlands last night.
,,For me, having an audience makes a big difference. It’s fantastic with the fans. It is good for sport and for television and the PDC”, Van Gerwen agrees. “But how long will it take? If I follow the news, I doubt whether there will be fans present after Christmas.”
In any case, Van Gerwen still has a long way to go towards a possible fourth world title. Against Barstow, apart from the six 180s, he was not really convincing with an average of 94.54. “It doesn’t matter how you win. But it wasn’t brilliant, it wasn’t what I wanted. Of course you want to start with a nice average of 104 and throw someone off the board, but I didn’t do that. But towards the end things got better. I’m still a long way from the title. But they have to do well to beat me.”
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