Michael van Gerwen has been drawn against unseeded Luke Littler in the first round of the 2024 World Matchplay and Chris Murphy believes MVG will have more pressure on him going into this tournament.
The World Matchplay is the second biggest tournament in darts behind the World Championship and many fans/players even rank it as the best competition in darts.
Leading into the 2024 tournament, there is more anticipation than we’ve seen in a long time, mainly due to the seedings for this year.
Luke Littler and Gary Anderson are two massive players that have gone into this tournament unseeded and that has resulted in two epic first round ties.
Gary Anderson will face Michael Smith in a heavyweight matchup but the biggest draw is Luke Littler against Michael van Gerwen.
Luke Littler has had a breakout season finishing runner-up in the 2024 World Championship and winning the Premier League, both in his debut season at just 17 years of age.
The Matchplay qualification is based on Order of Merits spanning two seasons though, so despite huge success in just half a year in 2024, Luke Littler enters the tournament unseeded.
You can feel the pressure of the matchup because of the coverage and hype surrounding it but MVG arguably has more to lose…
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Michael Van Gerwen Will Have More Pressure Than Luke Littler
In an interview with Online Darts, Chris Murphy (Chief Executive of MODUS Super Series) feels there is much more pressure on MVG with this draw.
He had this to say:
“In a scenario where Luke Littler loses against a lower seeded player, then people start talking.
“If he loses to MVG though, It’s no problem really.
“But the other way around… A first round exit really does pile more pressure and ask more questions about Michael van Gerwen.”
🗣️ "A first-round exit really does pile even more pressure and gives more questions about Michael van Gerwen"
— Online Darts (@OfficialOLDarts) July 12, 2024
🎤 @Chrismurphy180 breaks down Michael van Gerwen Luke Littler at the Matchplay and gives an update on his future plans
Listen in full now 🎥👇🏻https://t.co/b5zWPve8hR
MVG is not playing at his best this year and there has been a lot of talk about whether or not he can make it back to his best form.
A first round loss at the Matchplay would be crushing but it wouldn’t be a first for MVG.
He has already once before faced a shock first round exit when Jeffrey de Zwaan (unseeded) beat him 10-6 in the first round in 2018.
This was a tournament when Michael van Gerwen was the defending champion and was the number 1 seed.
De Zwaan also went on to beat Adrian Lewis and Dave Chisnall in that Matchplay tournament so it wasn’t necessarily a fluke but it was still a huge upset.
Related – Biggest UPSETS in World Matchplay history
At that time MVG was still dominant though so it was a shock upset but no questions were asked of him.
His major title wins have steadily decreased over the years though and a first round loss this time around would put a lot of unwanted pressure on his shoulders.
Especially as we’re going into a busy period of darts tournaments!
Michael van Gerwen and Luke Littler will play on Monday evening. Decent Darts will be covering the tournament with news, results, reactions and opinions so check back in daily or follow us on Facebook.
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