Darts Weekly: Michael van Gerwen faces battle to survive in world dominated by Littler and Humphries

A decade ago, the landscape of darts was dominated by a young Michael van Gerwen.

The all-conquering Phil Taylor was on the decline as he entered the twilight of his career, with his Dutch rival seeking to claim his mantle of darts’ king.

Between 2012 – 2020, MVG lifted an astonishing 41 major titles that included three World Championships and five Premier Leagues.

He won 23 out of 32 majors between 2015 – 2017 and holds the record as the longest reigning world number one – 2559 days between 2014 and 2021, which surpassed Taylor’s record.

With ‘The Power’ hanging up his darts and rivals such as Gary Anderson and Adrian Lewis unable to sustain a serious challenge to Van Gerwen’s dominance, he looked set to conquer the sport for as long as he wished.

The turn of the decade saw vulnerabilities creep into the Dutchman’s game, however, and Van Gerwen has struggled to reclaim the top dog spot since.

Van Gerwen no longer the player he was

Even for someone as talented as ‘The Green Machine’, it was always going to be an uphill battle to maintain the lofty level he was playing at during his peak.

I don’t have enough words to fully articulate how good he was, but the aforementioned major titles speak for themselves.

On top of those, he became only the second man after Taylor to amass over £1million on the PDC Order of Merit and still holds the world record televised average of 123.4 – a figure that was in excess of 130 before missed match darts.

Still, few foresaw the struggles that ‘Mighty Mike’ has faced in recent years, which have only been compounded by his rivals.

Since relinquishing his world number one spot at the start of 2021, Peter Wright, Gerwyn Price and Michael Smith have all won the World Championship and reigned supreme at the summit of the rankings.

Despite this, Van Gerwen was often still viewed as the world’s best for large parts of this period, but the arrival of two new foes has upset the status quo.

In October 2023, Luke Humphries rose to the upper echelons of the sport when he captured the World Grand Prix – his first of eight major trophies.

‘Cool Hand’ also claimed the world number one spot en route to his 2024 World Championship triumph and has yet to concede that position.

When Humphries lifted the Sid Waddell trophy at Ally Pally, he beat a little-known 16-year-old named Luke Littler.

Times have changed since, and you’d be hard pushed to find a person on the street who hasn’t heard of Littler.

The teenager has since lifted six major titles that include the prestigious Triple Crown – Premier League, World Matchplay and World Championship – and will almost certainly rise to world number one before the year is out.

‘The Nuke’s’ dominance at such a young age has drawn comparisons to a teenage Van Gerwen, and Littler has a winning record over the 36-year-old with the head-to-head currently reading 12-8 in the youngster’s favour.

Whilst the two Lukes have had a monopoly over the game’s major trophies over the past year, MVG hasn’t tasted glory since the 2023 World Series of Darts Finals, with his last ranking major triumph coming with the Players Championship Finals in late 2022.

Humphries and Littler are leaving Van Gerwen in the dust, with both players having more than twice the money that Van Gerwen has on the PDC Order of Merit.

What’s gone wrong for van Gerwen?

In his pomp, Van Gerwen was a ruthless winning machine and once won over 50% of the tournaments he entered in a year. Darts and winning were his life, and he loved it.

In 2017, MVG became a father for the first time, with his youngest child being born nearly three years later in 2020.

Priorities changed, and darts became less of an obsession as his children came first – something he has previously admitted.

The same may happen with Littler in the future or Humphries, who has spoken about the toll being away from his young family takes.

What’s more, the action of Van Gerwen’s throw has evolved since bursting onto the scene. Old clips show the dart point directed upwards approximately 45 degrees on pull back.

Over the years, the point became parallel to the ground, and now it points downwards approximately 45 degrees.

Pundits such as Wayne Mardle and Chris Mason have commented on this, and earlier this year, Van Gerwen told Darts Now that he is unable to throw the darts like he used to.

The three-time World Champion has also battled numerous injuries on the oche.

In the last few years, he’s undergone dental surgery and an operation on his throwing arm for carpal tunnel syndrome. He has also had issues with gout.

It is not easy to measure the impact of these individual obstacles, but their impact combined is likely to be more than negligible.

Van Gerwen’s best days are gone, but he can still be successful

It’s unlikely that Van Gerwen will once again reach the level of his peak. Even once his injury and personal problems are gone, the bar he set during his prime may even be unattainable to the likes of Littler and Humphries.

This doesn’t mean that the Vlijmen-born man can’t experience the glory days once again, though.

He was the runner-up in the most recent World Championship, losing only to Littler. Six months before, he lost the World Matchplay final in a close affair to adversary Luke Humphries.

The 47-time PDC major winner has shown over the last few years that he’s still capable of producing brilliant darts when the pressure is on, albeit not as frequently as he once did.

If he can rediscover some good form heading into the business end of the year, he may trouble the two Lukes, who have thus far dominated 2025 between them.

At 36 years old, Van Gerwen still has a long way to go before closing the book on his career and the emotion on display after every title or big win shows that the hunger has never dwindled, even if his ability has slightly.