Michael van Gerwen has poured cold water on the idea of taking on Luke Littler in Netflix's Beat Luke Littler — with a hilarious quip about cashing in on the show's prize money. The programme gives participants the chance to win a substantial cash prize by winning a single leg against the world number one, but Van Gerwen laughed off the format when it was brought up, referring to reports that not every strong player is simply allowed to take part in the selection process.
"Yeah, I've heard about it but not everyone is allowed to play, they're sending people away who are a little bit too good and things like that. That's a bit naughty," said Van Gerwen. He then joked that he would send Vincent van der Voort over for it otherwise. "What's the chances? Otherwise I'm going to send Vincent over for half a million, let's split the money, come on, one leg, come on, get him."
Nevertheless, the Dutchman believes it would be particularly difficult for a regular amateur to actually beat Littler over a single leg, though the short format means it is not completely impossible. "One leg. It's of course possible but the first thing is they have to bull up first so when you're just a player that's already the challenge to beat him in that and then if you're allowed to beat him you have to start off really well to put him under pressure so of course it's possible but it's slim chances. They know exactly what they do, don't worry."
Speaking pre-tournament, Van Gerwen was asked whether it gives him extra motivation to prevent Littler from achieving further success, but the three-time world champion does not want to concern himself with that. "Not really, I'm just looking towards myself, it would be weird for me to say now or this or that, I'm just looking to myself, to my own performances and when I do well I can challenge him, I know that so that's the only thing why I should worry about," he said. He also has great appreciation for Littler's achievements, with the young Englishman rapidly establishing himself as the dominant player on the PDC circuit and increasingly being compared with the best periods of Van Gerwen and Phil Taylor. "Totally different eras I think but don't get me wrong, what he does for the game and what he does for himself is absolutely amazing."
Things became more interesting when Van Gerwen was asked to compare his own rise with Littler's. While the Englishman now regularly skips tournaments and deliberately manages his schedule, Van Gerwen says that in his early years he wanted to play almost everywhere. "I think when I was younger I was more hungry than Luke because when I was in my first, second or third year, I played everything. When I open my eyes I want to go to the Pro Tour, do you know what I mean? And Luke is like I don't really want to go and things like that so we're totally different guys so you can't compare it but I don't know if we did it but social media and everything and it's a lot bigger now than it was before."
Van Gerwen knows better than most what it is like to dominate the darts world at a young age, with his 2016 season in particular regarded as one of the most successful years of his career. Asked when that version of Van Gerwen will return, he answered with trademark self-deprecation: "First I need to throw my dart straight and then the rest comes, yeah?" Van Gerwen has won no fewer than 49 Major titles during his career. The inevitable hypothetical question then followed: what would happen if the Van Gerwen from his peak year of 2016 faced the current Littler? "Oh, it's a tough one. I think we have a lot of good games and of course it would be me as well but I would definitely beat him in a lot of good occasions as well. Especially in the most important ones."