Raymond van Barneveld admits he nonetheless desires to indicate he can compete with the very best forward of the World Matchplay 2025, dwell on Sky Sports activities.
Van Barneveld will face Michael van Gerwen in a blockbuster first-round match on the World Matchplay on Monday July 21 at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens.
The all-Dutch conflict is among the massive spectacles of the primary spherical in one of many hardest tournaments round, with Van Gerwen a three-time winner whereas Van Barneveld fell within the remaining by the hands of Phil Taylor again in 2010.
Whereas Van Gerwen continues to be world No 3, with ‘Barney’ at present at world No 36, Van Barneveld desires to indicate he can nonetheless compete with the very best within the sport on his day.
Certainly, he desires to make sure he’s not having to cope with that shedding feeling and present why he must be thought of a winner as soon as once more.
“First of all, it’s the crowd that always kept me going. It’s fantastic if they sing your song, you know, like Barney Army,” Van Barneveld informed the Love the Darts podcast.
“It is all the time nice to carry out for a crowd like in Germany or UK or wherever we go these days. That is unbelievable. That retains you going.
“But sometimes you still want to prove that you can still show them what you’re good at. I’m still No 36 in the world, I’m 58. I’m still here, I’m enjoying.
“It isn’t all the time nice, it’s a must to deal with defeats generally three, 4 days per week. Nobody sees this.
“We play midweeks, we play two or three Pro Tours or qualifications, then we go to the Euro tour. So sometimes you have to deal with three or four losers in a week. I can’t even handle one time a week.
“So think about it’s a must to cope with that three, 4 occasions per week coping with defeats. And this is just one week out of 52 I am speaking about.
“I’m a winner and time is changing. Years ago, I was with Phil Taylor, Michael Van Gerwen, Gary Anderson. People always talked about you. But that’s not happening anymore.”
The World Matchplay is all the time a stage the massive gamers wish to make their mark on and that’s no totally different for Van Barneveld, who is targeted on making certain that his kind on the majors improves.
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Talking on the Love The Darts podcast, Michael Bridge and Paul Nicholson preview Luke Littler’s first-round conflict with Ryan Searle on the World Matchplay Darts
“It is not a secret that in the majors I’m doing pretty badly and losing first rounds all the time. And you try to find an answer to where does this go wrong, what I need to adjust, what I need to do,” he added.
“Of course, I’m proud, but proud doesn’t bring you anywhere, you want to have results.
“So it is actually good that individuals speak about you and so they nonetheless say, ‘oh, wow, he is nonetheless there, he is nonetheless doing it and hope he is proud’.
“But at the end, you want results and with results, you feel happier. Then you want to go do more and more and more.”
Prepare for a spectacle: MVG vs RVB!
For former participant Paul Nicholson, the sport between Van Barneveld and Van Gerwen will as soon as once more be a spectacle, particularly as a result of the previous will elevate his recreation in opposition to the latter.
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Talking on Love The Darts, Paul Nicholson and Michael Bridge talk about Michael van Gerwen’s kind heading into the World Matchplay the place he performs Raymond van Barneveld within the first spherical
“This is a difficult game for Michael for two reasons,” Nicholson mentioned on Love the Darts.
“One, Raymond is going to turn up in this game, you know he is, because he is going to want to beat Michael on this stage.
“He did in 2009 in very totally different circumstances in fact however Raymond goes to raise his recreation the identical method Gary Anderson all the time lifts his in opposition to Michael as effectively.
“It is going to be a spectacle. Michael just needs to grind over the next few days and get himself ready for a dust-up.
“I’ll by no means ever bat in opposition to Michael as a result of he has a tenacity and when he’s up in opposition to sure individuals, he all the time appears to seek out that additional little spark.
“I have a feeling he is going to need it.”
Watch the World Matchplay dwell on Sky Sports activities from July 19-27 or stream with no contract.
