3:16 Dimitri Van den Bergh is the champion of the World Matchplay! He gives his reaction to his first televised title win…
Van den Bergh has twice won the World Youth Championship, in 2017 and 2018. He won his tour card by topping the development tour in 2014 and has kept it ever since.
He rises to a career-high of 12 on the Order of Merit, will most likely captain Belgium at the World Cup in November – having become the first man from his nation to win a PDC title – and also becomes the first world youth champion to win a PDC major.
A few months in lockdown with Peter Wright appear to have given Van den Bergh the belief he needs, and not just in dancing their way around the stage.
Van den Bergh was unable to get back to Belgium and so got an insight into the life on a world champion on the Snakebite farm.
Wright is one of the game’s great practicers but also knows how to switch off, it doesn’t appear to be a coincidence that Van den Bergh has delivered after life in lockdown with the reigning world champion.
Despite his youth, Van den Bergh has been around for a while, a testament to the sport’s investment in the Challenge and Development levels. They mirror the tried and tested approach of golf and tennis, in giving young and old, amateur and pro, man and woman, a chance to make a living.
He has often been accused of not yet fulfilling his potential, that can’t be levelled at him now – and while form on the Pro Tour hasn’t quite been what he would have liked, the major performances have been stacking up.
0:26 Enjoy Dimitri’s World Matchplay final dance!
Van den Bergh has revelled on the big stage, his dancing feet have delighted the crowds over the last couple of years as he has become a crowd favourite and even in the near empty arena he didn’t disappoint. Every walk-on got the same treatment, as his quick feet dazzled almost as much as his darts.
He reached the quarter-final of the UK Open before lockdown, just a couple of months after a second appearance in the World Championship last eight. Two other individual major last eight appearances sit alongside deep runs at the World Cup with Belgium – the man has got game.
In reaching the last four at the World Matchplay, he ended his quarter-final misery and in truth went from strength to strength as the tournament went on. That was clearly evident as he powered to the finishing line against the proven pedigree of Anderson.
In reaching his only other final at the German Darts Masters in 2018, Van den Bergh beat Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson before losing to Mesnur Suljovic, so the signs have been there and during a week on a Milton Keynes retail park, it all came together.
1:06 Watch the highlights from the final of the World Matchplay in Milton Keynes
Sky Sports’ Mark Webster cited the different nature of Van den Bergh’s victories in his run to the final as evidence of the Belgian’s coming of age, and the list of vanquished opponents was quite something.
UK Open winner Nathan Aspinall, world No 18 Joe Cullen, two-time PDC world champion Adrian Lewis, three-time BDO world champion Glen Durrant, and finally multiple major champion Anderson.
He led, he was dominant, he had to repel comeback, he was caught and composed him and in his final, he was simply the better player.
Life in the Milton Keynes bubble has meant one or two changes, one of which was being able to see the players practice. In contrast to Anderson’s typically phlegmatic arrival at the venue, Van den Bergh would arrive with rucksack, air pods and a bobbing head, not too dissimilar to a Premier League footballer.
The fun would soon subside; Van den Bergh is a cool calm presence on the oche and once settled into the practice area the focus descends. Wayne Mardle, a man who should know, speaks of the Van den Bergh walk-on as a chance to get rid of all the nervous energy.
In contrast to the dancing feet that signal his arrival to Pharrell Williams’ Happy, Van den Bergh is happy taking his time when faced with a big finish at a crucial juncture. That much evident in the closing stages of his victory over Anderson, when all the parts came together again.
A deep breath and a successful dart at double has been as much a trademark as the dancing feet – on Sunday night we got both and the first of what is likely to be many more trophy lifts as he delivered the biggest title of his career, and fittingly there was a dance to celebrate too.
Sourse: skysports.com
