Van Gerwen Sets Goals For Rest of 2019

Michael van Gerwen (Lawrence Lustig, PDC)

MICHAEL VAN GERWEN is targeting the Betfred World Matchplay and Paddy Power Champions League of Darts as his priority title targets for the remainder of 2019.

Fresh from winning his fifth Unibet Premier League title at The O2, Van Gerwen was quick to look ahead to adding to his title haul of nine so far in 2019, with July's World Matchplay and October's Champions League of Darts at the top of the agenda.

Before that, the world number one will team up with Jermaine Wattimena for the first time as the Dutch pairing at June's BetVictor World Cup of Darts in Hamburg.

"With all respect to Raymond [van Barneveld], I think Jermaine deserves his place but if I was in Raymond's shoes I would be gutted," said Van Gerwen, who has won the tournament three times alongside Van Barneveld.

"The World Cup will be interesting because there are a lot of players in good form, but also a lot of players in poor form and with the short format we could see some surprises.

"I want to win every tournament I compete in, of course that's not easy but you have to set yourself high targets to stay sharp.

"That's why I play so many events like the ProTours to keep my form going, even if i don't win them I get a positive energy out of it which I can use for my next games.

"For the rest of 2019 I've got two big targets. I want to win the World Matchplay, because I've performed badly there the last two years, and I want to win the Champions League of Darts because it's the only TV title I've never won before.

"I know how hard it will be to win those two tournaments, along with everything else I will be playing in which I want to win too, but I am up to the challenge."

The BetVictor World Cup of Darts will be held from June 6-9 at the Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany.

Broadcast live on Sky Sports, the tournament will see 32 countries represented by two players each in the unique event which features both doubles and singles matches.

Tickets are available now through PDC Europe.