‘Do or die’ – Darts star reveals theory behind Michael van Gerwen’s miserable 2025 and says he must ‘watch himself back’
MICHAEL van Gerwen has “lost his aggression” according to best mate Vincent van der Voort.
‘The Green Machine’ finished as runner-up at this year’s World Championship, but his performances in 2025 have been below par.
World No.3 Van Gerwen was dumped out in his opening match at the Belgium Open last weekend, having won just one match at the UK Open the week prior.
Van Gerwen was battered 6-1 in the Premier League in Nottingham and was knocked out of the UK Open by world number 57 Rob Owen.
And the three-time world champion is still without a nightly victory in this year’s Premier League.
MVG has not reached the final of a tournament since his Ally Pally loss to Luke Littler.
According to Vincent van der Voort, a close friend and compatriot of Van Gerwen’s, the 35-year-old is lacking energy.
Van der Voort told the Darts Draait Door podcast: “He’s not stepping onto that stage with a do-or-die mentality anymore.
“There’s no aggression, no fire to show that he’s still the dominant force he once was. It all looks a bit routine, a bit obligatory.
“It’s about how you approach the game, the energy you bring. But Michael doesn’t seem to feel that himself.
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“That’s understandable—how you appear on TV and how you feel internally can be two very different things.
“That’s why I tell him: watch yourself back on TV. He used to be a bouncing ball of energy on stage.”
He added: “If there’s one thing he’s never been, it’s submissive. That really surprised me. There’s no aggression in his game anymore, and he needs that.
“He used to want to devour his opponents—I just don’t see that in him right now.”
‘The Dutch Destroyer’ did conclude by suggesting Van Gerwen’s drop in form could be down to issues that don’t necessarily present themselves first-hand.
He said: “You have to consider his family, the relentless schedule—it’s easy for us to sit back in a studio and comment.
“but he’s the one who has to go out there and do it. Talking about it is the easy part.”
Van Gerwen returns to action on Monday at the Players Championship Eight in Hildesheim, Germany.
List of all-time Darts World Champions
BELOW is a list of darts world champions by year.
The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions.
That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once – Barney also won four BDO titles – and none of Eric Bristow’s five BDO titles are included.
- 1994 – Dennis Priestley
- 1995 – Phil Taylor
- 1996 – Phil Taylor (2)
- 1997 – Phil Taylor (3)
- 1998 – Phil Taylor (4)
- 1999 – Phil Taylor (5)
- 2000 – Phil Taylor (6)
- 2001 – Phil Taylor (7)
- 2002 – Phil Taylor (8)
- 2003 – John Part
- 2004 – Phil Taylor (9)
- 2005 – Phil Taylor (10)
- 2006 – Phil Taylor (11)
- 2007 – Raymond van Barneveld
- 2008 – John Part (2)
- 2009 – Phil Taylor (12)
- 2010 – Phil Taylor (13)
- 2011 – Adrian Lewis
- 2012 – Adrian Lewis (2)
- 2013 – Phil Taylor (14)
- 2014 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2015 – Gary Anderson
- 2016 – Gary Anderson (2)
- 2017 – Michael van Gerwen (2)
- 2018 – Rob Cross
- 2019 – Michael van Gerwen (3)
- 2020 – Peter Wright
- 2021 – Gerwyn Price
- 2022 – Peter Wright (2)
- 2023 – Michael Smith
- 2024 – Luke Humphries
- 2025 – Luke Littler
Most World Titles
- 14 – Phil Taylor
- 3 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2 – John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright
- 1 – Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries, Luke Littler
