Michael van Gerwen

THE current world number one, Dutch ace Michael van Gerwen has enjoyed an extraordinary spell to establish himself as one of the sport’s superstars.

A teenage wonderkid when he broke through to win the 2006 World Masters, he would wait a further six years to pick up his next televised title at the 2012 World Grand Prix, a victory which has sparked a golden run of success.

A two-time World Youth Championship finalist who honed his skills in the early years of the PDC's Youth Tour - having initially joined the PDC circuit in 2007 - Van Gerwen has been the dominant player on the PDC circuit since 2013.

Having hit a brilliant nine-darter in the 2013 World Championship - and missed double 12 to complete amazing back-to-back perfect legs - his Premier League win in his debut season of that event was swiftly followed by victory in the PDC's inaugural World Series event in Dubai.

Two European Tour victories were accompanied by seven other ProTour wins during the year, which ended with him going all the way to glory in the 2014 World Championship - defeating Peter Wright in the final in his most memorable New Year's Day ever!

After topping the Premier League table once again following the 2014 season, van Gerwen bounced back from losing that title to Van Barneveld in the Play-Offs by picking up another victory in the Dubai Darts Masters.

He added another World Series title in Singapore in August 2014 and teamed up with van Barneveld to win the World Cup of Darts title before a memorable October led to him taking a second World Grand Prix triumph and success in the European Championship, which also featured a nine-darter.

A semi-finalist in the defence of his World Championship title, van Gerwen began 2015 in style by winning The Masters in Milton Keynes, a European Tour event and three UK Open Qualifiers during an amazing run which saw him win 42 games out of 43 during February before then winning the UK Open TV Finals in March.

His imperious form on the circuit continued with three further European Tour wins, in Gibraltar, Germany and Holland, and two Players Championship triumphs, while he also finished at the head of the Premier League table for a third straight season, only to lose out in the final to Gary Anderson.

After retaining the Dubai Darts Masters title for a third successive year, this time defeating Phil Taylor in the final, van Gerwen then succeeded Taylor as World Matchplay champion with his brilliant success in Blackpool, which was sealed with his defeat of James Wade in the final.

Further 2015 triumphs followed as Van Gerwen retained the European Championship title with a comeback win over Anderson, won his first Grand Slam of Darts title, as he memorably overcame Taylor in the final, and claimed victory in the inaugural World Series of Darts Finals.

He also won a second Players Championship Finals title by overcoming Lewis in the final, but was knocked out of the 2016 World Championship by Dutch rival Van Barneveld.

Van Gerwen bounced back to retain both his Masters and UK Open titles - hitting a nine-darter in Minehead - before claiming his second Premier League title by seeing off Taylor in the final.

Victory in the inaugural Shanghai Darts Masters was followed by another superb World Matchplay triumph, glory in the Perth Darts Masters and a third World Grand Prix win, as he bounced back from a loss to Taylor in the Champions League of Darts final.

Another golden autumn saw Van Gerwen then win the European Championship, World Series of Darts Finals, Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championship Finals to continue an incredible year, which ended fittingly with his second World Championship triumph as he defeated Anderson in the Alexandra Palace final.

Another win over Anderson sealed a third successive Masters final to open 2017 in style, and after topping the Premier League's regular season table for a fifth straight year he retained that title in May before claiming his second World Cup of Darts title alongside Van Barneveld in June.

Whilst he missed out on a World Matchplay hat-trick, Van Gerwen's summer highlight saw the birth of first child Zoe, before he returned to action in another golden autumn campaign.

Three European Tour wins were followed by a fourth successive European Championship title, wins for a third straight year in the World Series of Darts Finals and Grand Slam of Darts and at the Players Championship Finals for a fourth time in five years.

Van Gerwen's incredible winning streak was ended by Rob Cross in the World Championship semi-finals, as the Dutchman missed match darts to see his title defence ended at Alexandra Palace.

After being named once again as PDC Player of the Year to open 2018, Van Gerwen made an immediate return to winning ways at The Masters by claiming his fourth straight victory in the top-16 event.