Michael van Gerwen on Friday night in London, he had to face young sensation Luke Littler in the final of the World Darts Championship. The 17-year-old Englishman won the world title after a convincing 7-3 victory, which resulted in Van Gerwen missing out on his fourth world title. Friend and colleague Vincent van der Voort has a clear message for the Dutchman after the defeat: rest is allowed, but training must – was the motto.
Van der Voort saw Van Gerwen mainly miss key finishing touches. Especially in the first few sets, those misses were devastating as Littler quickly jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Mighty Mike was unable to make up for the deficit. Van Gerwen has another visit to Germany on Sunday, where he will take part in an exhibition tournament. Van Gerwen and his family will then be flown to Thailand for a well-deserved holiday. According to Van der Voort, it is important that Van Gerwen continues his training there.
“He is going on holiday, then only a dart board will come to him from the sponsor Winmau. If he’s smart, he’ll play an hour every two days,” Van der Voort said on the Darts Draait Door podcast. “If you do nothing for two weeks, you’ll be back to square one.” The 16-time PDC World Championship competitor would not feel comfortable if Van Gerwen put his darts aside for a few weeks. “Normally you can easily take a break for two weeks, but not now. Everything starts again. It wasn’t good enough before.”
Indeed, a second-place finish at the World Darts Championships was the only highlight of a poor autumn for ‘Mighty Mike. At tournaments such as the European Darts Championships, the Grand Slam of Darts and the Players Championship Finals, he was eliminated early. For the 35-year-old Dutchman, the fact that Van Gerwen is currently on an upward trend should be a signal to continue training. “Then you can get back to really top form. I still think Michael will be 80 percent ready.”
Skipping vacations and continuing to train full time is absolutely not an option. “Get some rest” – Van der Voort is clear. Next up will be the Premier League, Pro Tour, Euro Tours and UK Open. Before you know it, it will be June and you will be completely broken again. Rest is really good and he deserves it now, you just have to keep up with training.”
