Michael van Gerwen has challenged himself to fight back at the World Darts Championship after a disappointing year on the PDC World Tour.
For the first time in years, Van Gerwen is not starting at Ally Pally as one of the favourites, having failed to win a single major title this year.
But afer beating Jim Long 3-0 in his opening match, the 35-year-old is confident he can end 2024 on a high.
“I feel now that I still have enough time to turn it around. Everything starts with daring to face the facts and adjusting yourself accordingly,” he told De Telegraaf.
“I don’t want to be able to say afterwards that I didn’t do enough about it, didn’t train enough or was stubborn. That would be stupid. But this is also something you do spend some time with.
“This is not like: ‘hey, tomorrow I’ll be back and I’ll throw every game 110 average’. But everything has to go for this.
“There is one tournament that is different than all the others and where I have to go out and have a blast. That’s the World Championship, period.”
