Michael van Gerwen's struggles continued last weekend when he was knocked out by Mensur Suljovic in the second round of the Swiss Darts Trophy, and the manner of the defeat has left Vincent van der Voort seriously concerned. The former professional, speaking on the Darts Draait Door podcast, analysed Van Gerwen's performance in Basel, where he was present to witness the Dutchman put up a decent fight early on before things went badly wrong after a few legs. Van Gerwen lost control of his throw and could barely put his Austrian opponent under pressure.
"It simply has to be a question of form and confidence," Van der Voort said. "We all know what he has thrown in the past, so it's not as if he can't do it." While Suljovic is known for his slow pace and ability to disrupt rhythm, Van der Voort refused to blame the defeat on that, insisting the problem began with Van Gerwen himself and too many uncharacteristic misses. "But it starts with those misses of his. They don't exactly help your confidence. You don't throw darts like that when you're in top form. You can see—and this is a recurring theme—that a lot of hours need to be put in. That hasn't happened lately."
Van der Voort's criticism centres on the period between the World Grand Prix and the Swiss Darts Trophy. Van Gerwen lost to Ryan Joyce in the first round of the World Grand Prix, but his game looked considerably sharper then, and the expectation was that he could build on that over the following week and a half. "But you have to conclude that too little happened in that time. He had a week and a half. Looking back, he looked good and composed again at the Grand Prix. You felt he might be about to get going again, but I didn't feel that at all this time. Not at all. It was all very poor."
The run of defeats against players outside the world's absolute elite is particularly troubling to Van der Voort, who names Joyce, Damon Heta, Daryl Gurney and Suljovic among them. "In this form… Who are you going to beat?! Top form doesn't just appear out of nowhere. Look at the players he's been losing to lately: Joyce, Damon Heta, Daryl Gurney and now Suljovic. None of them are world-class." He believes his former practice partner must face up to the seriousness of the situation, warning that without significant improvement Van Gerwen risks slipping further down the rankings. "If he hasn't realised that by now, he might as well stop."
Another problem is that Van Gerwen's early exits mean he rarely faces the circuit's biggest names, often denying him matches against players such as Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, Gerwyn Price, Jonny Clayton and Gian van Veen. Van der Voort also sees no upward trend. "At the moment, every good performance is an isolated incident. You think a good tournament should boost his confidence, but there's no upward trend." During the podcast, Van der Voort and presenter Damian Vlottes tried to identify the last tournament in which Van Gerwen reached his old level across several matches, settling on the 2025 World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam, where the Dutchman won the title. "That was more than a year ago… You can't keep living off that; it doesn't work."
According to Van der Voort, one of the biggest changes is that players are no longer intimidated when they draw Van Gerwen. "He still has the name, but there's no player in the practice room who thinks, 'Oh no, I have to play him.' The fear is completely gone. Players just outside the elite, like Damon Heta, used to be genuinely afraid. Now they know they can beat him even with an 89 average."
