Gian van Veen has described his debut Premier League Darts season as a “five-and-a-half or maybe a six” after a campaign that saw him reach multiple nightly finals early on but ultimately finish seventh. The 24-year-old Dutchman, speaking on the podcast Darts Draait Door, admitted he was harsh on himself after the night in Rotterdam, saying emotionally: “This isn’t Premier League worthy. At that moment, it genuinely felt like that.” Despite the setbacks, Van Veen said he can be “proud” of still being in play-off contention going into the penultimate week, adding: “There are plenty of players who played their first Premier League season and were barely seen afterwards. Luckily, that hasn’t happened to me.”
Van Veen’s season was derailed by an attack of kidney stones that required surgery and forced him to miss an entire night in Berlin, resulting in a 6-0 defeat against Michael van Gerwen. He admitted the physical blow had a “huge impact,” not just from missing the week but from the aftermath. “Physically, the week after wasn’t great either,” he said. “I’m not saying I’d definitely have made the play-offs without the operation and the kidney stones, but I’d certainly have been in a much better position.” He also acknowledged he probably convinced himself the issue wasn’t affecting him as much as it actually was, and that he is “not the same player I was a few months ago,” though he feels that level is returning.
The busy schedule also took its toll, with Van Veen skipping several Players Championship events. “After the operation, and especially during the Premier League, I probably should have skipped even more for my own schedule,” he said. Off the oche, the controversy with Luke Littler in Manchester sparked weeks of debate, but Van Veen said it had little impact on his performances. “It didn’t really affect my performances, and I also haven’t played him again since then, which probably helps too.” He added that their relationship remains unchanged: “He’s a perfectly fine guy, but even before all that we never had loads of contact. So there’s no real drama.”
Struggling with grip issues that had caused him to split his thumb open during last year’s European Championship, Van Veen eventually switched darts during the Premier League. “I knew something had to change eventually. But things were going so well,” he said. “During the Premier League, when things started going worse and after the operation, my confidence dropped. Then I received a new set of darts and thought: this feels like the right moment.” He has now put the old darts away and is continuing with the new set, hoping to rediscover the form that saw him reach three nightly finals in the first four weeks of his debut campaign.
