Michael van Gerwen has made his priorities unequivocally clear, admitting he doesn’t care about the Premier League as he faces a huge ranking drop later this year. The Dutchman is likely to fall out of the top 20 after the World Darts Championship and is trying to stem that tide amid his struggles and a new rising crop of talent.
Speaking after his European Tour match in Graz, where he saw off Krzysztof Ratajski before losing to Rob Cross, Van Gerwen said: “Krzysztof is in really good form and playing good darts and then you have to do something special. That is exactly what I did today. I am playing some good darts lately. In the last two weeks I have picked up a good feeling and good momentum. But you have to show it in the games. I did that today and everyone knows what I am capable of. My main focus is this tournament, simple as that. What happens next Thursday I don’t really give a f***.”
Van Gerwen went on to say that the rankings are his most important thing as he looks ahead to likely having to rely on them. He stated: “For me, what is important is tomorrow. Everyone knows that. I didn’t have a good year last year, everyone knows that. So, on the ProTour ranking and European Tour ranking I have to smash them. For me, tomorrow is the most important day of the year. What we are going to have afterwards, let’s see. I don’t care.”
Despite his comments, Van Gerwen is not out of Premier League contention. He currently sits fifth in the Premier League and is two points behind Luke Humphries in the race to the final play-off place with just two nights of the regular season still to go.
