Michael van Gerwen has vowed to bounce back immediately after suffering a shock quarter-final exit at the US Darts Masters on Friday in Las Vegas.
The world number one was a long way from his best against Michael Smith in the last eight, averaging just 88.59 as he slumped to an 8-6 defeat to the Bully Boy.
By the world champion’s outrageously high standards, this represents a significant slump in form which has seen him fail to win each of the last four tournaments he has entered.
While that would not be anything to worry about for most players, this is the first time MVG has gone four events without a title so far in 2019, after coming up short at the Dutch Darts Masters, the World Cup, the Czech Open and now in Las Vegas.
However, Mighty Mike is never one to let failures play on his mind and he is already turning his attention to the German Darts Masters this weekend in Cologne and then the World Matchplay in Blackpool, starting on 20 July.
Congratulations to Nathan Aspinall on winning the US Darts Masters. Great performance & well done Michael Smith on reaching the final.
I was not good enough but looking forward to put that right in Germany and be ready for the world matchplay.— Michael Van Gerwen (@MvG180) July 6, 2019
Van Gerwen tweeted: ‘Congratulations to Nathan Aspinall on winning the US Darts Masters. Great performance & well done Michael Smith on reaching the final.
‘I was not good enough but looking forward to put that right in Germany and be ready for the World Matchplay.’
The last time MVG went four tournaments without a title was at the back end of 2018 when he failed to win the European Championship, World Series Finals, Grand Slam and the Players Championship Finals.
This may prove to be reassuring for the Dutchman, though, as his next event after that run was the World Championship, which he won comfortably.
As Mighty Mike mentioned, the US Darts Masters was won by Nathan Aspinall who was making his World Series debut at the Mandalay Bay resort and casino.
The Asp was in sensational form all Friday, seeing off Rob Cross, Peter Wright and then Smith 8-4 in the final with a whopping 106.7 average.
‘This weekend, I’ve loved every single minute of it, and to come out on top in, what I believe is, the strongest field of all five World Series events, I’m a happy guy,’ Aspinall told ITV.
The World Series continues in Cologne at the weekend with Wright, Van Gerwen, Cross, Daryl Gurney, Gary Anderson, James Wade, Mensur Suljovic and Raymond van Barneveld making up the field.
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