Dimitri Van den Bergh knows what it's like to beat reigning world champion Luke Humphries on the biggest stage, but the Belgian is only focused on his own game ahead of his upcoming visit to Alexandra Palace.
Van den Bergh goes into the PDC World Championship as 11th seed, and he feels ready for another deep run after reaching the semi-finals two years ago. His run ended at the hands of Michael van Gerwen on that occasion, but no player will intimidate him after his UK Open win in March.
Humphries was the beaten finalist on that occasion after a thrilling 11-10 final. It was just the second time the world champ had lost a major PDC final, and came after 'Cool Hand Luke' had looked unstoppable in Minehead.
Van den Bergh has a relatively friendly draw in the early rounds, with none of the biggest hitters awaiting until a little later on. He isn't getting ahead of himself, though, telling Mirror Sport he remains eternally grateful just to be doing something he loves for a living.
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"Funnily enough, when i was playing in that final [against Humphries], I wasn't thinking in that moment that i was playing the world champion and the world number one," Van den Bergh says. "I was thinking 'it's first to 11 and whoever gets there first will win the title', and that was on my mind.
"For me it was just make sure you get that last leg, and if you hit that last double of the game that means you're going to be a major champion, that for me was on my mind. But also my sports psychologist said to me 'if you're going up there in that final, this is your gift from all your hard work. this is not a punishment', so just because of these words, for some reason the pressure just went off my shoulders.
"There was no monkey on my back any more, it was just me going on that stage, having a bit of fun, and then obviously some things happened during the game, like great finishes at the right time, that gave me more belief that this was my tournament and it's going to happen, it's going to be my trophy.
"If you can have that feeling while you're playing in a major final, it's unreal to have some feelings like that and then afterwards, when you think about it, that it was against the world champion and the world number one. So, for me, i'm so proud that i've got two majors under my belt. it's something i couldn't have dreamt of five years ago."
He also says the boos he received during that win will only make him stronger. "I have no idea where that came from, but i've already seen, as soon as it happened, so much support from outside of that venue and from so many friends and fans," he said.
"It was just something I shouldn't be bothered by. So now that I have that experience, that will make me a stronger player again, and if it happens next time it won't bother me as much as it did this time."
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Van den Bergh's work with a sports psychologist has been a long and ongoing process, with the 30-year-old determined to give them time to develop a working relationship. "It's definitely a long term thing, because i'm one of them that thinks you need to give someone time to work with you," he explains
"They say Rome wasn't built in a day, so for me it's always if I try something new I need to give it some time, and then you will know afterwards if it works or not. That's why i went from the first time: 'look, we start in January and the first thing we've got on our calendar that i want to be really good at is the UK Open'.
"We had the motto back then as 'they never saw me coming', and i can't even believe how much it surprised me, because i didn't even see me coming to win the trophy. You want to do well, but winning it was something i didn't see coming myself."
Last year's worlds were over more quickly than Van den Bergh might have liked. He fell to qualifier Florian Hempel in the second round, having also lost to the German at Ally Pally in December 2021.
The only way the two will face off ths year is if they both reach the semi-finals, but Van den Bergh could still find himself against German opponents early on. Victory in his opening match could lead to a meeting with Martin Schindler, while a potential clash with Gabriel Clemens awaits in the round of 16.
He isn't looking too far ahead, though. Van den Bergh is speaking on behalf of PDC partners Fireball Whisky, who have launched a 'Sick Note Service' whereby Van den Bergh and other stars will provide Ally Pally attendees with messages to send their bosses to excuse them from work after a night watching the darts.
Van den Bergh insists he would have never taken advantage of such a service himself, but only because he's certain a regular 9-to-5 would never have worked for him. "I'm one of these people that's lucky i've got everything that i want in my life," he says. I've got my family, I can do my hobby as my job, and not many people can say that so there's no reason for me to put in a sicknote or call the sicknote service.
"[Waking up early] is something i'm very fortunate that I don't have to do - if it was me doing a 9 to 5 job, it wouldn't work. I'm not good with structure like that because I'm one of them that really needs sleep, so i don't think that would work out fine for me."
The big crowds at Ally Pally certainly seem to suit Van den Bergh, who has been able to embrace the energy when he steps out but drown out the distractions when it's time to focus. He points to the range of celebrities in regular attendance, from singer Lewis Capaldi and footballers including England internationals James Maddison and Danny Rose.
"For me, at Ally Pally as well, for some reason it just works fine. I have no idea why but it just clicks," the former semi-finalist says, describing the atmosphere at the venue as "magical".
He adds: "The only pressure that would be extra is me doing it to myself, if I would put myself more under pressure for some reason, but most of the time that's not the case. i'm always at the venue four hours before my game, getting myself ready and prepared, listening to music and listening to the right things that give me that boost of going on that stage and feeling comfortable, feeling ready."
When asked if he's doing anything differently this year, Van den Bergh offers a resounding "No, sir". Pointing to his UK Open trophy, he indicates two major wins are proof enough that whatever he has been doing is working.
"There is nothing extra, nothing special, because if you want to be the best in the world in a special way, that should have started already in August," he explains. "You don't have to do it one or two weeks before the world championship starts, I firmly believe that's too late if you want to be extra-prepared for the World Championship."
Dimitri Van den Bergh was speaking on behalf of Fireball Whisky, partners of the PDC, who launched their Sick Note Service this December. The service allows revellers at this year’s World Darts Championship to get a ‘sick note’ from darting stars. Head to fireballuk.com/pages/sick-note to find out more
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