MvG Comeback!

Posted: 19.10.20 in Darts Performance Centre Blog category

5 Other Sporting Comebacks to Inspire Ailing Van Gerwen

When this year’s darts Premier League started out the Dutch machine that is Michael Van Gerwen was the odds-on favourite to take home the title, having won the league for four successive years.

However, all that went out the window in 2020, with the world champion being knocked out before the playoff phase for the first time in his career.

Although it is easy to speculate about just what is going wrong with the Green Machine’s game and mindset, in this article we look instead to other sports personalities who lost form or fell from grace, only to resurrect their careers in a big way.

Perhaps Van Gerwen can take some inspiration from their respective stories.

Van Gerwen was in dismal form throughout the summer tournament schedule and needs to do something urgently to stop his slide from grace.

Michael Vick and Tom Brady

As Colin Kaepernick is finding out at great cost, for a quarterback to make a comeback after extended time away from the game is virtually impossible, with gridiron changing in the blink of an eye to leave an inactive player permanently stranded on the free agent list.

One man who managed to confound that trend was Michael Vick, who having spent a couple of enforced years away from the sport, and indeed the general populous, made a triumphant return to produce MVP-worthy displays.

Another NFL player who seemed out of favour for a long period of his career was Tom Brady, who then moved to the Patriots and the rest in history, showing that form is temporary, but class is permanent.

MVG will need a few MVP performances of his own if he is to cling on to his number 1 world ranking. At least Brady and Vick have shown that with a little perseverance you can work your way back into the good books of fans, who will then one day show their renewed faith by wagering coveted sports free bets on you to deliver a result for them.

Tiger Woods

For a long time, Tiger Woods’ name was completely deleted from the odds lines for major golf tournaments, as all his personal and injury demons caught up with him.

However, like all true champions, Woods found a way to make it all the way back to the top, crowning his comeback with a win for the ages at the 2019 Masters. He is now one of the first names on any PGA Tour betting slip.

No details have been released about why Van Gerwen is having trouble on the darts board, but if it is due to personal reasons then Tiger’s example of redemption is an ideal one to copy.

It is back to the practice board for the Dutchman

Serena Williams

Almost dying while giving birth is an experience that Van Gerwen is unlikely to have suffered at any time in his life, but that is exactly what Serena Williams had to deal with.

Despite the toll this took on her body she is now right back at the top of the game, having recently reached the US Open semi-final as she goes in search of more records.

If a mother like Serena Williams can come back from all that adversity and added responsibility, then the Green Machine can certainly overcome his jitters at the oche.

Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps is without doubt the best swimmer of all time, claiming multiple gold medals at three consecutive Olympic Games.

However, he had not always planned for things to turn out that way, with him suffering setbacks before the 2016 games in Rio, which made him prematurely call time on his career.

Luckily for sports fans everywhere Phelps later reversed his decision and went on to win five golds, incredibly outperforming what he had done four years before in London.

The swimming sensation’s book, No Limits: The Will to Succeed, has all the tips Van Gerwen needs to inject his career with the same sort of stellar longevity.

He could also just have a word with Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor and ask him how he managed it for so many years.