The former world No 1 shares how a traumatic year has shaped him as a darts player and a father and insists he can recapture his glory days at the world championship“I can be a miserable bastard sometimes,” Michael van Gerwen says with a grin and a shrug as he tries to explain his new burst of optimism after a horribly testing year.“But I can also be quite positive.If you asked me this question a month ago, and we did this interview then, you would find me a bit different to today.But I feel good now even if, 100%, this has been a very tough year for me both on and off the oche.”Rather than being miserable, the 36-year-old is amiable company – which seems remarkable as in 2025 he has been through a divorce after 17 years with his wife, Daphne, witnessed the devastating effect of cancer on his father, endured intense scrutiny in the Dutch media, and struggled to regain his once imperious form with the arrows.

Van Gerwen holds the record for the longest run as world No 1, having retained the top spot for seven years from 1 January 2014 to 3 January 2021.Those 2,559 days of supremacy offer a stark contrast to his far more inconsistent play over the past five years.The world championship begins on Thursday and, while he enters the tournament as the third seed, Van Gerwen’s painful year has diminished his game.He nods emphatically when I ask if his recent personal trauma has changed him.“A lot,” he says before pausing.

“Maybe it’s better to say it has not changed me as a person – but it has changed my way of thinking.“It has made me understand what’s most important in life.It has to be family.Of course I love darts but I love my kids much more.Before, when I didn’t have kids, it was easier.

Darts was always my number one,Then, when I had kids, darts was not my number one any more,You have to try to balance things a little better,”It’s a familiar challenge for a sporting icon to retain the same drive once their focus is diluted by children,Phil Taylor held the previous record as the longest-running world No 1, but the lengthiest of his eight stints at the summit was more than 500 days shorter than Van Gerwen’s epic reign.

But Taylor, who won 16 world titles compared to Van Gerwen’s current tally of three, once told me he never allowed family responsibilities to blunt his desire at the oche,“I spoke with Phil about it and he fell out [with his family] sometimes because he always put darts as No 1,” Van Gerwen says,“I think if you now ask Phil the question: ‘Would you do it differently?’ he might say: ‘Yes,’”Van Gerwen’s children, Zoë and Mike, are eight and five,Remembering his daughter’s birth in 2017, he says: “My priorities changed 100%, straight away.

I think it should.It would be weird if that wasn’t the situation.”Did that essential humanity come at the expense of his darts? Van Gerwen smiles sadly.“A little bit, yes.But my daughter was born in 2017 and I still became world champion in 2019.

That was then and, now that they’re older, they want a bit more attention,So when I’m home I have the kids,Before that I could go practise whenever I liked and now I have to work around the kids to practise,That’s different,”It will be seven years in January since Van Gerwen’s last world championship triumph – a 7-3 cruise in that 2019 final against Michael Smith.

The biggest gap between world title wins in the PDC era of professional darts is the five years separating John Part’s victories in 2003 and 2008.What would Van Gerwen have thought in 2019 if someone told him he would not win another world championship for at least seven years? “I wouldn’t believe that.But also corona[virus] didn’t help.It’s small factors because the line between winning and losing is so thin.I’ve still played three finals [in six years] so that’s not too bad.

It’s a great achievement.But I’m not a happy runner-up.I want to win, as simple as that.”His son was born in April 2020, just weeks after the world slipped into lockdown, but how else did Covid undermine his game? Van Gerwen spreads his arms to accentuate how widely the impact was felt.“Everyone who was playing well at that time, where are they now? They can’t win a raffle any more.

That’s why I love to play in front of crowds.It gives me energy, it gives me joy and it keeps your engine going.Without crowds it was disgusting.”Van Gerwen listens quietly when I read aloud his reaction after he lost 6-3 against Gary Anderson in the semi-finals of the 2015 world championship: “People don’t understand how painful it is.We all hate losing.

If you don’t mind losing you can’t be a great sportsman,I’m not a good actor,I’m sick when I lose,” As he absorbs the familiar truth of his words, he exclaims “100%”, eyes bulging,Does losing a darts match hurt him as much now as it did then? “Yes.

A little bit more.” Van Gerwen grimaces.“The last few years I’m a little bit more used to it.” He laughs.“Nah, nah, nah.

I say keep being positive.Otherwise, if you’re thinking in a bad way it doesn’t bring anything.I always think: ‘Don’t worry, my time will come again.’”Does he recover from defeat more quickly in these comparatively lean days, having won only one major tournament, this year’s World Series, since 2023? “Yes, it’s quicker.I’m good but always a little bit angry at the beginning and then I’ll be fine again.

”Van Gerwen, with brooding emphasis, says: “ If you don’t know how to lose, you never can be a great winner.Simple as that.”Has he learned new lessons about darts over the past few years? “Of course.You learn how to deal with losing, and how your brain’s reacting towards losing, because we all know I had a fantastic patch.But I don’t really listen to what other people say.

I always follow my own gut feeling,I made some stupid mistakes but you learn from it,If you keep being taught by other people you’re like one of them: a muppet,I don’t want to be a muppet,I’m Michael.

”He seemed like the real Michael during one of his lowest points, at the world championship in 2024,After averaging a poor 93,4 in an abject quarter-final defeat by Scott Williams, he shed tears and spoke of how hard it was to be away from his children every Christmas,“It was not only that,” he says now, “but also the moment when I found out my dad was sick,”Van Gerwen shakes his head when asked about his father’s cancer.

“Not too good.He is sick.They amputated his nose one-and-a-half years ago and two months ago they cut away all his lymphs.They cut them everywhere so he can’t taste any more, he can’t swallow any more.He has tubes so it’s not going too good.

His quality of life is bad – but he still tells me off when I don’t do well,He’ll be watching me in the worlds,”Sign up to Sport in FocusOur picture editors select their favourite sporting images from the past week, from the spectacular to the powerful, and with a little bit of fun thrown inafter newsletter promotionHe looks briefly heartbroken,“Of course,He was always a strong man and now …”Van Gerwen also talks about his divorce in May.

“We were 17 years together, nearly 11 years married.You need to give yourself time to let it go.Sometimes you get thrown back to reality and then you need to try to move out of it again.I can do it.”Does playing darts help? “Yes, sometimes it really helps me to put my focus on something else.

But sometimes it also annoys me.”Van Gerwen brightens.“But me and my ex are on good terms so that’s really important for the kids.We’re always going to be connected because we have kids together.The kids were with me the last six days.

I brought them to their mum yesterday and now I’m [back in the UK] I’ve got four days for myself and then next week I pick them up for two days again.I’m a darts player and I’m a father, but I need me time as well.”His fame in the Netherlands means “everything I do at the moment is on social media, I’m not even talking with a woman in a pub and the newspapers will ring me to say: ‘Is there more? Is she a girlfriend?’ Am I not allowed to talk to women any more? People take pictures and it’s like everything I do is in the loop.Here [in the UK] I can be normal, but not in Holland.I think it will stay that way until I have a new partner but I decide what I’m doing.

I’m not a puppet”,Is he open to the idea of a new relationship? “Yes, if one comes on the path, why not? I’m a single man now and we’ll see what comes,”Our attention returns to the darts and Luke Littler, the new world No 1, who crushed Van Gerwen in the last world championship final,That loss meant Van Gerwen had lost his past three world finals, in 2020, 2023 and 2025,The brilliant Littler is still only 18 and, as the Dutchman remarks wryly, “he lives with his mum and everything is easy for him.

He doesn’t have a family [of his own].He has no responsibilities.Everything’s fine.But when you start to face real life then things are changing.You have to deal with new things in life then.

It’s not going to be smooth for the rest of his life.”The teenager is already subject to scrutiny as he helps elevate the sport to an even greater pitch of popularity.“Darts is in a really good place at the moment,” Van Gerwen says.“Social media is bigger than ever.The television coverage is good