Michael van Gerwen’s pal says partying darts ace should ‘get severe’ after ‘tough divorce’
Michael van Gerwen will miss out on the Premier League Darts Finals Night in London on Thursday for only the third time ever, but for a second successive year.
The 37-year-old three-time world champion was the face of the Premier League after winning the tournament an incredible seven times during his dominant years at the top of darts. However, his failure to finish in the top four of the league again has shown how much MVG’s form has tailed off.
Van Gerwen has endured a turbulent time in his life after divorcing from his wife Daphne in 2025. The Dutchman took time away from the sport for personal reasons, and despite winning the World Series of Darts final last year, he has failed to win a ranking major since 2022.
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Speaking exclusively to the Daily Star Sport, Van Gerwen’s close ally and fellow Dutch darts star Vincent van der Voort called on the once dominant force in darts to get back to focusing on his game.
The former Ally Pally quarter-finalist said: “If you don’t perform like you can and you’re not winning enough and you’re high profile like Michael, people will have an opinion when you go out, because they think then you have to go to the practice board.
“There will always be people that say ‘oh leave him alone, he’s allowed to have a good time’, but people will judge you about everything, even if they don’t know the whole situation.
“They will judge you for it because everybody has an opinion. It’s like the World Cup is about to start. You’ve got in England with 60 million opinions. So everybody thinks something about that team, or who should have played.
“And that’s with Michael as well. Michael has just gone through a rough divorce. He’s gone through a really rough time and he took some time to relax and to party, because he didn’t do that for so many years, since the age of 15/16.
“He never partied that much because he was always determined to play darts. So now he’s done that for a year. And now it’s time to get back to his serious self and show the world what he’s still capable of.”
Van der Voort explained he has spoken to Van Gerwen about how he can start his comeback to rediscover his old form and top-class level.
“We spoke about this many times and I think he’s still got it in him to become as good as he was,” he added. “Maybe not as dominant as he was but he can still win major tournaments, and he can still be top three in the world for a long time, but then darts has to come first.
“I know the kids are important and they are first, but I mean, after that, if darts comes first, and he’s determined and he wants to come back, then the only thing is the hunger still there? He’s the only one who can answer that.
“Talent wise, ability wise, no problem, but is the hunger still there to show the world how good he is and show himself how good he is.
“He has the X Factor. He’s something special. I think a good Michael is not afraid of anybody. He’s not been his best, but he still doesn’t fear anyone. And if he’s good, then he’s going to get chances.
“At the moment he misses a lot of those chances because he didn’t practice enough and he didn’t do enough, but he still comes close to every player he plays against because he’s that good.
“So if he takes darts seriously and he goes for it, and he’s going to practice, he does the hard work at home and in the time in between, and he sets his mind on being again a really dangerous force for everyone, then we’ll see a great Michael again I’m sure about that.”
