Michael van Gerwen is entering a pivotal stretch of the season, and according to Vincent van der Voort, the timing of his World Grand Prix first-round clash with Ryan Joyce is far from ideal. Van Gerwen suffered an early exit at the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam last week, and Van der Voort believes the three-time world champion is still feeling the effects.
Against Daryl Gurney in Amsterdam, Van Gerwen had six match darts but none found the mark, bowing out in the opening round. The defeat lingered for days. During his YouTube livestream on Monday, Van Gerwen admitted he still felt sick about the loss. Van der Voort also sees how hard the elimination has hit. “He went all in, he’s busy and training and so on… But I tell him this too: you can’t expect it to be there after a week and a half of practice,” he said on the podcast Darts Draait Door.
There is barely any time for Van Gerwen to dwell on the disappointment. First come the Players Championships in Den Bosch, then the focus switches immediately to the World Grand Prix, which begins on Monday. The Leicester draw handed Van Gerwen a tricky opener in Joyce. Van der Voort points out the Englishman reached the World Grand Prix semi-finals just two years ago. “Confidence is a bit low right now and he’ll have to work very hard to bounce back. Then Joyce is a really awkward opponent. Two years ago he was in the Grand Prix semi-final. He’s a very tough opponent. Michael must focus entirely on his own game. If he plays well, he should beat Joyce. But we also have to judge him on how he’s playing now. Then we might just have to say Ryan Joyce is a slight favourite.”
That last remark caused surprise on the Sportnieuws.nl Darts Draait Door podcast with host Damian Vlottes. He could barely believe Van der Voort truly saw Joyce as a slight favourite against Van Gerwen. Van der Voort, however, stuck to his view. “He has more confidence than Michael right now. He just had six match darts and didn’t put them away. So why would we say he’ll just beat Joyce? I think we all have to get used to that new standard.”
According to Van der Voort, the onus is now on Van Gerwen to deliver his response on stage. The Brabant native must, in his view, “prove again that everyone is wrong in thinking it isn’t that good at the moment.” If Van Gerwen clears his first hurdle at the World Grand Prix, a fully Dutch second-round clash could follow. The winner of his match against Joyce will face the winner of Danny Noppert versus Niko Springer.
