Michael van Gerwen sent a clear message to the rest of the darts world (Image: Sky Sports)
Michael van Gerwen has warned and that he is more than capable of gate-crashing their hopes of dominating Van Gerwen, 35, went into this year’s as the No.3 seed, despite enduring a miserable campaign that will see him end 2024 without winning a single major televised event.
His hopes of winning his fourth world title have been boosted by the exodus of seeded players in the opening stages, . Van Gerwen is also on the opposite side of the draw for Littler and Humphries, meaning if he is to meet one of the ‘Lukes’ at Ally Pally, it will be in the final.
With Humphries and Littler both dominating the sport by winning the World Championship, the , the Players’ Championship and the Grand Slam of Darts between them in 2024, not as much attention has been paid to the Dutchman. If anything, that has only motivated the darting behemoth.
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Van Gerwen told Sky Sports: “If you look at my rankings this year, I’m still in the top four or five. Can you imagine when I play well again? I will be really dangerous!”
When asked if he has an idea of when he may leave the oche for good, Van Gerwen said: “I’ve re-signed my contract with Winmau for another 10 years, so I will be on the scene for a little bit longer and I enjoy what I do. That’s the only thing that counts.
“If I don’t win another two or three world titles, I will be disappointed. But I know I can do it.”
Van Gerwen next faces last year’s slayer of Anderson and Gerwyn Price, Brendan Dolan in Round Three, while Humphries will play Nick Kenny and Littler takes on Ian White. If Van Gerwen gets his way, he will have many more battles with Humphries and Littler to come.
Van Gerwen has a good record against Luke Littler (Image: Getty)
He added: “I still love what I do, and as long as I keep loving what I do, then we’re going to see. What else am I going to do? That’s my always the question I ask myself, what else am I going to do?
“I don’t have enough other things or hobbies to fill in all that time. Of course, my kids and wife are really important in my life, but darts is a really big part of my life, and everyone knows that.
“They know it’s my life as well. It’s not only that I do it because it’s my job. I also do something that I love. It’s my passion. It’s my life. I’ve been doing it for the last 25 years.
“I’ve been in the PDC for nearly 18 years, and I had, God knows how many tournaments I played in. So for me, it’s not a battle. It’s something what I love to do.”