Michael van Gerwen blasted the setting in which he was tasked with speaking to the media after an early exit in night six ofPremier League Darts. A disappointing evening in Brighton for the current leader saw him exit at the quarter-final stage for the second week in a row.
He went down 6-2 to Rob Cross and his misery was compounded when he hit single 12 when aiming for treble 20. The 34-year-old had been battling a shoulder injury but was clearly frustrated in the aftermath of his defeat.
Players typically undergo press duties backstage after they exit each evening’s event in front of several journalists, but Van Gerwen was baffled when he went to speak with broadcaster Viaplay as their interview would be conducted over a video call.
Van Gerwen pointed out that there was a Dutch journalist in England who he felt could have spoken to him in person, before lamenting the technical difficulties when he could not be heard clearly on the video.
He asked: “(Dutch journalist) Arjan van der Giessen was in England, why isn’t he here? This is a nice message to you guys. They should just send people to England. Now it has to be via laptop and last week I also looked like a moron. I really hate that, via laptop. I hate that more than my own game.
“If you can’t understand me, it’s because of that laptop This just comes across as very amateurish to the rest of the world. We darters come from very far away and then this is just terrible with a laptop like this. This also makes no sense to interview losers, because nothing meaningful comes out of it.”
Van Gerwen, who had also suffered a surprise early exit from the UK Open in the first round to Mensur Suljovic, was further frustrated by a hampered build-up to his Premier League duties.
“Yesterday was not a nice preparation,” he added. “I had a six-and-a-half-hour delay at Schiphol Airport, so I didn’t get to my hotel here until 2am. That’s also part of it when you travel a lot. I understand you want to leave it at that.”
Despite a difficult couple of weeks for the three-time world champion, he has insisted this year that he feels better than ever in his game, highlighted further by taking three consecutive wins in the Premier League.
Van Gerwen, who still has a healthy three-point lead over second-placed Humphries in the standings, will be hoping that his injury fully heals and smooth travels help him return to glory in next week’s competition as darts’ biggest stars head to Nottingham.
