RAYMOND VAN BARNEVELD has no doubt that he can claim a sixth world title heading into the 2019/2020 William Hill World Darts Championship.
The Dutch legend, who is one of only three players in the history of the sport to be crowned a five-time World Champion, announced his retirement plan in November.
A four-time Lakeside Champion, Van Barneveld won the PDC World Championship in his first attempt in 2007, defeating Taylor in a classic final, and the doyen of Dutch darts is determined to go out on a high.
"I absolutely believe I can still be World Champion again in one of my last two attempts," said Van Barneveld, who became the first player to achieve a nine-dart finish in the PDC World Championship in 2009.
"If you told me after my 2007 World Championship win over Phil [Taylor] that it would be my last World Championship then I would’ve said you were a fool, but in the last few years we have seen phenomenal players playing at an outstanding level.
“My grandmother always said ‘if you believe then you can achieve anything you want’ and I still believe I can do this, but not for many more years.”
"I don’t want my career to fizzle out because I still think I've got another one or two titles left in me.”
Since his sudden-death win over Taylor, Van Barneveld has gone on to rack up 29 PDC titles, including two UK Open crowns, four PDC World Cup of Darts wins, the Grand Slam of Darts and the Premier League to continue his success at the highest level.
The Dutch fans’ favourite, who has helped to inspire the growth of darts in the Netherlands during a superb career, explained the reasons behind his decision and his plan for 2019 following his penultimate World Championship.
"I noticed in myself that I can’t keep up anymore, I know what I can do but it’s just not been happening for the past three or four years apart from winning the World Cup with Michael [van Gerwen],” Van Barneveld added.
"I'm not winning tournaments anymore, I don’t know why but a lot of things have happened in my private life and I’ve also noticed that my body isn’t feeling 100 percent anymore - I don’t have the drive, motivation or fitness to carry on.
"When I retire I will be 52 and I’m really looking to spending time with my family.
"I'm a winner, that’s what I do – I lift trophies but I can’t do it anymore. Maybe there are still a couple of titles left in me and that would be amazing but I can’t do this every week anymore.”