Michael Van Gerwen has hit out at Peter Wright for “talking s***” after the Scot hailed the Dutch player’s next opponent, Callan Rydz, as the new favourite for the PDC World Darts Championship.
Wright emerged victorious against Luke Humphries after a war of words in the build-up and the two-time world champion has provoked a reaction from rival Van Gerwen before his quarter-final.
Rydz has the highest tournament average (100.91), yet the bookies and most pundits have tipped last year’s runner-up, Luke Littler, as the favourite throughout this year’s tournament, with ‘The Nuke’ hitting the most 180s in the tournament (22) and eight more than Rydz.
“Yes, Peter Wright,” Van Gerwen said before a long pause. “Every year at the Worlds, he talks such nonsense, do you know what I mean?
“He's always allowed to talk s***. Nobody takes him seriously on the tour as well.”
Wright, 54, produced a stunning upset of last year’s champion, and maintains he can still play at the highested level: “People think, ‘Oh, he should be retiring, he should be going to the old gits’ thing’ (the seniors tour). No, I’m not ready for that yet. I’m ready to upset Luke Littler. I’m here to upset Luke Humphries.
“I believe I can win it again. I won one of the European Tour events (the German Darts Championship), beat Luke Littler in the final 8-5, and won six legs on the trot. You can overlook me if you like, I don’t care. What drives me on? Luke Humphries and Luke Littler because I know I can still compete with them. Based on what I’m doing in practice, I can compete with these guys and be better than them.”
Wright faces Stephen Bunting in the quarter-finals, and should he emerge victorious a semi-final with the winner of Luke Littler vs Nathan Aspinall awaits on 2 January.
