Dirk van Duijvenbode produced a stirring comeback on home soil at the World Series of Darts Finals on Thursday evening, recovering from 3-0 and 4-1 down to defeat Viktor Tingstrom 6-5 in the first round at the AFAS Live in Amsterdam. The Dutchman admitted afterwards that he had feared another early exit, given his recent run of first-round losses.
"Yeah, of course, and I was all right in the first half, the first two legs, but then 2-0 down, and I was like, 'Well, at some point you start doubting a bit because, I mean, I felt like I was playing great darts, and then you lose,' like I played well in Budapest, and then you lose in the first round, and I mean, I'm not, if I'm being honest, obviously that gives you some insecurity for this game. Normally you'd say it's okay, but now you feel like I don't want to lose again the first round, and next week is the World Grand Prix," Van Duijvenbode told Online Darts.
The Titan credited the home crowd and the presence of his family, including his partner, with lifting him through the match. "So maybe something slipped in there in my mind, and I boosted myself with some roars, and I got family in there, and it was like, 'Okay,' like my missus was there, and you feel like, 'Okay, she's away from the kids. Kids don't like that. You don't want to do that for nothing,' and that boosted my mind." He added that he usually might accept such a slump, but did not want to carry the losing feeling into the World Grand Prix after the last few weeks.
Despite the win, Van Duijvenbode was candid about the frustration of losing to players he believes he would have beaten at his peak. "Not a frustration thinking of the Matchplay, but obviously it's a frustration because the frustration is that, okay, I feel like I'm back and then you don't have a result. Yeah, I mean, I'm going to say it, I lose to people where I was in my prime, like prime. Prime is not the word, but when I was playing really well for many years in a row, now I'm losing to people I didn't lose to then, or like I'm losing games, the games I didn't lose to. It's not about people, but it's like back in the days when I was in form, I wouldn't go below 97 average, and now you're playing 93 games, 90 games. I'm like, 'Oh, what are you doing, man?'"
The Dutchman insisted he is practising better than ever, even if that form is not translating to the stage. "I think I don't; I just don't understand it, and at some point you have to accept it, and then sometimes when you accept it, when you're not good, then you can still win the game. That's actually what I did today, in a way, you know what I mean? Okay, they're not falling, but battle them, because sometimes. I mean, the way I practise, I'm really good in practice, like really, really good, and I always know, I don't, it's almost impossible to show that game on stage because that would almost be, I would break records then, and obviously I'm not the only one that can, is capable of doing it. But sometimes you have to accept that you're not the best, but accept that you are not at your best or not good, but accept and then battle. That's, I think, what I did today."
Looking ahead, Van Duijvenbode believes his best is still to come. "I'm better in practice than I was then, but I think mentally I'm not as good as I was then, and that will take time, but I believe I can do it, because I'm not yet doing everything I did back then, but I feel in practice sometimes – well, not even sometimes, I think I'm better than I was then, but I need to get it together, and when it gets together, I believe I'll be better than then." The win sends him through to Saturday's action in Holland.
