Dubai: Michael van Gerwen has shrugged off the threat Gary Anderson poses as he bids for a Dubai Duty Free Darts Masters hat-trick ahead of this weekend’s third edition of the $250,000 tournament at the Dubai Tennis Stadium.
Van Gerwen lost 11-7 to Anderson in last week’s Premier League Darts final and 6-3 to him in the semi-finals of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) World Championships, which Anderson went on to win by beating record 16-time champion Phil Taylor 7-6 in January.
But the world No. 1 Dutchman is determined not to relinquish his Dubai crown to the ‘Flying Scotsman’, especially as he is unbeaten here in two editions.
“He’s never played this tournament, so first we need to see how he handles the heat and the outdoors. We’ll see who can handle that best, but I think it’s me,” Van Gerwen said of Anderson, ahead of the opening round of the five-stage PDC World Series of Darts, which is the only outdoor event in the calendar.
“He beat me in the World Championship semis and the Premier League final, but I beat him on the way through. I won the UK Open and The Masters in between, you can’t win them all, sometimes you need to accept a loss to be hungry for the next tournament.
“I don’t have a point to prove against him, I’m world No. 1, he’s world No. 3, who cares? We both need to win before we play each other anyway so we’ll see what happens.”
Anderson said he would love to deny Van Gerwen a third Dubai title, but admitted the Dutchman was still the favourite for the competition.
“With the talent you have across the board here, anyone can lift it, but Mike [Van Gerwen] is the favourite, you can never write off Phil Taylor and the rest will plod along.
“It’s not a nasty rivalry,” he said of his relationship with Van Gerwen. “We push each others buttons, play fast and both hit big scores.
“The last 18 months he’s been the best in the world, so it’s always nice to get one up on him, or two up on him, but three would be even better.”
Of the hot and potentially breezy conditions, the Scotsman sounded unconcerned. “A couple of guys have changed darts to a heavier set, but I’m sticking to my normal set up.
“If your throw goes right you aim slightly more to the left, it’s not rocket science. Aidy [Adrian Lewis] has played here before and has been telling me to do this and do that, but I’m not listening to him. I’ll find out myself, I’ve been playing darts a long time and learn something new every day, so this will be a learning curve.”
