Michael van Gerwen reveals biggest darts regret that he can ‘only blame himself for’ ahead of PDC World Championships
MICHAEL VAN GERWEN has revealed that his biggest regret in darts is his failure to beat Phil Taylor.
The Dutch star faced Taylor three times at the PDC World Darts Championship and lost each time.
The most famous of the defeats came in the 2013 final at Ally Pally when the Stoke thrower prevailed 7-4.
Taylor, 63, has recently announced his plans to retire from the professional circuit.
Ahead of this year's world championship, Van Gerwen, 34, has admitted he "only blames" himself for not defeating his rival.
He said: "I had chances to beat him. It’s annoying. It’s probably my biggest regret at the world championship.
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"Because I played him three times and should have won two of those games. I didn’t do it.
"You can only blame yourself for that.
"That’s probably my biggest mistake I made at the World Championships.
"You have to stay truthful to yourself or you will never be a better player.
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"If you want to compete with the big boys and if you want give it to them, you have to perform.
"Deep inside his heart, Phil knows I was the one who made it really difficult for him in loads of games.
"But you still have to do it. I did it in loads of other tournaments but never at the World Championships.
Van Gerwen has won the World Championships three times in his career.
Taylor has not competed at the Words since his 2018 final defeat by rookie Rob Cross.