2007–2011 Although he was a BDO player he was eligible for certain PDC events in his home country, even before he switched to the PDC. This included the Open Holland in 2006, in which he took the title. He made his PDC debut on 20 January at the non-televised
Players Championships in
Gibraltar and beat
Andy Hamilton before losing in the last 16 to
Roland Scholten. In the second Players Championship the following day, he beat
Raymond van Barneveld in the early rounds only to lose to
Alan Warriner-Little in the quarter-finals. He followed up his victory over Van Barneveld by beating 13-time World Champion
Phil Taylor 3–0 in sets on the opening night of the
Masters of Darts tournament. He went on to reach the semi-final of the tournament and achieved a nine-dart finish against Van Barneveld, but lost the match. His televised PDC debut came at the
2007 UK Open, where he lost in the last 32 to
Colin Osborne. His first PDC World Championship saw him play Phil Taylor in
2008's first round; notably, he had one match dart to knock Taylor out. Van Gerwen ended his long wait for a tournament victory by beating Vincent van der Voort 6–3 in the final of the Players Championship in
Taunton on 11 April 2009. Van Gerwen was defeated 6–4 by
Arron Monk in the final of the inaugural
PDC Under-21 World Championship.
2012: First PDC major title In the
2012 World Championship, Van Gerwen made it to the last 16 for the first time by beating
Colin Osborne and
Mervyn King. However he lost to Simon Whitlock 4–3. Van Gerwen was named Young Player of the Year at the PDC annual awards ceremony on 3 January 2012, for winning four PDC Unicorn Youth Tour events during 2011 and his World Championship run. In 2012, he won the second
UK Open qualifier of the season, defeating
Dave Chisnall in the final 6–1. In the
UK Open itself he lost in the last 16 to
Terry Jenkins. Van Gerwen topped the PDC Youth Tour Order of Merit going into the
2012 PDC World Youth Championship, but went on to lose in the final for a second consecutive year, this time against
James Hubbard. Van Gerwen won the eighth
Players Championship event in June after beating Simon Whitlock 6–1 in the final. At the
World Matchplay, he won 5 legs in a row to record a 10–6 victory over Simon Whitlock in the first round, and then faced a last 16 encounter with
Steve Beaton, which he won 13–9 while throwing the fourth nine-dart finish in the tournament's history in the tenth leg. Van Gerwen was 5–11 down in his quarter-final against
James Wade, but produced a fightback to only trail 11–12 and then missed one dart to level the game. He went on to lose 13–16. Van Gerwen's third title of the year came at the 11th
Players Championship, where he defeated
Ian White 6–1 in the final with a 107.85 average. Van Gerwen was involved in an exceptional match in the last 16 of the
European Championship as he was defeated by compatriot
Raymond van Barneveld 9–10, despite averaging 104. Another Players Championship success followed with a 6–5 victory over
Robert Thornton. In October 2012, Van Gerwen won his first PDC major title at the
World Grand Prix. He came from behind to knock out
Colin Lloyd 2–1 in the first round, and then beat an out of sorts
Adrian Lewis 3–1 in the second. In the quarter-final against Andy Hamilton, he missed four darts to win 3–1, only for Hamilton to take out a 160 finish to force a decider. Van Gerwen maintained his composure and took the final set 3–2 and then heavily out-scored
Wes Newton in the semi-finals in a 5–1 win. He played Mervyn King in the final, defeating him 6–4, after being 0–3 and 1–4 down. Van Gerwen afterwards described the win as the best day in his life and in claiming the £100,000 prize he rose to world number eight, overtaking Van Barneveld as the highest placed Dutchman. He did not have to wait long for his sixth title of the year, as he won the following week's Players Championship averaging 113 against
Jamie Caven in the semi-finals, before beating Nick Fullwell 6–3 in the final. In a
Championship League game, van Gerwen averaged 121.86 while defeating Steve Beaton 6–0. He won six of his seven league matches to finish top of the table, but then lost 5–6 to the same opponent in the semi-finals. He soon returned to winning ways by taking another Players Championship title, coming back from 0–4 in the final against Ian White to triumph 6–5. Van Gerwen won all three of his group games at the
Grand Slam of Darts to top Group B and face Phil Taylor in the last 16, in a match billed as a clash between the current best two players in the world. There, Van Gerwen ended a five-year, 15-game losing streak against Taylor to defeat him 10–5 with a 108.38 average in a performance he described as the best of his career. He played
Scott Waites in the quarter-finals, who himself had already beaten Taylor in the tournament, and produced another superb display as he hit two 170 finishes and an average of 106.63 in a 16–12 win. He averaged over 100 once more to defeat
Dean Winstanley 16–8 in the semi-finals, to set up a clash in the final against compatriot and five-time world champion
Raymond van Barneveld. Van Gerwen was never ahead in the final and couldn't quite match the heavy scoring and clinical finishing he had produced earlier in the tournament as he was beaten 14–16. His eighth tournament win of 2012 came at the 20th and final Players Championship, where he beat Taylor for the first time in a final and also beat reigning world champion Adrian Lewis in the semi-finals. He was 4–5 down to Taylor, but produced back-to-back finishes of 164 and 124 to win and in doing so finished third on the ProTour Order of Merit to qualify for the
Finals. Van Gerwen went out of the Finals in the second round 10–8 to Andy Hamilton.
2013: First world final, Premier League champion After his exceptional year in 2012, Van Gerwen entered the
2013 World Championship as the second favourite behind
Phil Taylor. In his semi-final match against James Wade, Van Gerwen hit a nine-dart finish. He almost repeated the feat in the very next leg, after hitting eight perfect darts before missing one dart at double 12 that would have seen him become the first player ever to hit back-to-back perfect legs. However, he lost the set but won the match 6–4. In his first World Championship final, he played Phil Taylor and led 2–0 and 4–2, but lost 7–4. Van Gerwen's run in the tournament saw him climb to number four on the Order of Merit, which guaranteed his place in the
Premier League for the first time. At the PDC awards dinner in January 2013, Van Gerwen won three awards; Young Player of the Year, PDPA Player of the Year and Fans' Player of the Year. In his first
World Cup of Darts, he partnered Van Barneveld and the Dutch pair suffered a shock in the last 16 when they were beaten 3–5 by the Finnish duo of
Jani Haavisto and
Jarkko Komula. Van Gerwen won his first tournament of 2013 at the first UK Open Qualifier of the year with a 6–2 victory over Dave Chisnall in the final. He completed a weekend double a day later by defeating
Brendan Dolan also by a 6–2 scoreline in the second Qualifier. The win saw Van Gerwen replace Wade as the world number three. His run continued by taking the third event with a 6–2 win against
Michael Smith. Van Gerwen's first defeat on the 2013 Pro Tour came a day later when Robert Thornton beat him 4–6 in the semi-finals of the fourth Qualifier. His unbeaten run stood at 29 matches until this defeat. Despite losing in the semi-finals of the
European Darts Trophy to
Paul Nicholson in April, Van Gerwen replaced Adrian Lewis as the world number two. Van Gerwen won the sixth qualifier with a 6–5 defeat of
Kim Huybrechts in the final. He also won the final event with a 6–0 win against Mervyn King in the final, meaning he had won five of the eight Qualifiers. His sixth title of the year came a week later at the second
Players Championship by beating
Stuart Kellett 6–1 in the final. In the
2013 Premier League, Van Gerwen became the first player other than Phil Taylor to finish top of the league after Taylor had done it in all eight previous stagings of the event. He won 11, drew two and lost three of his 16 games, averaging over 100 in nine of them. He beat James Wade 8–4 in the semi-finals to face Taylor in the final. Van Gerwen was 2–5 down but then won five unanswered legs before Taylor stopped the rot by taking out a finish of 65. In the next leg, Van Gerwen declined a dart at the bull when on a finish of 87 to set up 32, but Taylor stepped in to finish 160 to level the match at 7–7. However, Van Gerwen began the 15th leg with a 180 and won two consecutive legs to move within one game of the title. He missed two darts at double eight to win 10–7, but with Taylor leaving 40 after 12 darts in the next, Van Gerwen finished 132 on the bull to become only the fourth player to win the Premier League. Van Gerwen's play continued as he won the
European Darts Open in Düsseldorf, Germany, saving his best performance for the final where he beat Simon Whitlock 6–2 with an average of 106.68. Another title followed less than a week later as he won the non-ranking
Dubai Darts Masters, taking out finishes of 170 and 164 during an 11–7 triumph over Raymond van Barneveld in the final. His 10th tournament win came in June at the
Austrian Darts Open by beating Mervyn King 6–3 in the final. It was Van Gerwen's fifth title in a row and he was on a run of 24 unbeaten games. He was the number one seed for the
UK Open having earned £35,600 in the eight qualifying events, just over £25,000 ahead of Robert Thornton in second place. Two weeks later he won the sixth Players Championship by defeating
Andy Hamilton 6–1 in the final. At the
Gibraltar Darts Trophy his unbeaten run of 15 matches in European Tour events was ended as he lost to Adrian Lewis 5–6 in the quarter-finals. At the
European Championship, Van Gerwen beat
Mervyn King and Jelle Klaasen both with 104 averages, but was defeated 8–11 by Lewis in the semi-finals. Lewis was also the victor when the two met at the same stage of the
World Matchplay, beating Van Gerwen 17–15. Van Gerwen overcame Lewis in the semi-finals of the
Sydney Darts Masters 10–7, but was then defeated 10–3 in the final by Taylor. In the defence of his
World Grand Prix title, Van Gerwen swept past
John Part 2–0 and Van Barneveld 3–0 in 21 minutes to play Dave Chisnall in the quarter-finals. Van Gerwen came from 2–0 down to level the match but Chisnall halted his momentum by winning the final set by three legs to one. He qualified from
Group 5 of the
Championship League having lost in the final of two previous groups which included a nine-dart finish in a 6–5 loss to Terry Jenkins in Group 4. In the
Winners Group, Van Gerwen was the only player to beat Taylor and he finished second in the table by winning five of his seven games. In the semi-finals, he saw off
Richie Burnett 6–2 to face Taylor in the final. Van Gerwen fell 5–0 down before winning three successive legs but had left himself too much to do and lost 6–3. He finished the year as the top seed for the
Players Championship Finals having amassed £125,350 during the year in ProTour events, over £50,000 ahead of Chisnall in second place. He produced two superb comebacks in the event, the first coming in the second round when he took six legs in a row to see off Lewis 9–6. He produced the second in the final as from 6–3 down he hit a seven leg burst against Taylor and secured his second major title of the year with an 11–7 victory.
2014: World Champion In the
2014 World Championship, Van Gerwen began with victories over qualifier
Zoran Lerchbacher and
Kevin McDine. He trailed
Gary Anderson 3–1 in the third round, but came back to win 4–3. He then faced former
BDO World Champion
Mark Webster, whom he beat 5–3. Van Gerwen beat
Adrian Lewis 6–0 to reach the final. In his second successive World Championship final, he faced Peter Wright and won 7–4. He became the sixth different winner of the event and, at the age of 24, the then-youngest as well as jumping above Phil Taylor to become the new world number one. Later in the month, he won the ProTour Player of the Year, Fans' Player of the Year and PDC Player of the Year at the Annual Awards. On the opening night of the
Premier League, Van Gerwen registered the first ever whitewash over Taylor in the tournament's history, 7–0 in 13 minutes with an average of 109.59. He enjoyed a title success in his home country at the
Dutch Darts Masters by beating Mervyn King in a high quality final where both players averaged over 107. A week later, he won the final
UK Open Qualifier with a 6–0 whitewash over Michael Smith. At the
UK Open, he was beaten 10–8 in the semi-finals by Terry Jenkins. Van Gerwen won his 20th title on the PDC tour in claiming the second
Players Championship by beating Dean Winstanley 6–1. In April, Taylor won their reverse fixture in the Premier League 7–4 and was also the victor when the two met in the final of the
German Darts Masters. He finished top of the
Premier League table for the second year in a row, winning 11 of his 16 games, and then edged past Gary Anderson 8–7 in the semi-finals. From 5–5 in the final, Raymond van Barneveld took four successive legs and ended Van Gerwen's Premier League reign with a 10–6 win. At the
World Cup of Darts, Van Gerwen and Van Barneveld produced a 117.88 average in their doubles decider against Northern Ireland to whitewash them 4–0 and meet England's Taylor and Lewis in the final. Van Gerwen defeated Taylor 4–0 and Van Barneveld recorded the same scoreline against Lewis. He went into his singles match versus Lewis knowing a win would earn the Dutch pair the title and he did so with a 4–2 success. Van Gerwen played in his first
World Matchplay final but was beaten 18–9. He returned to claim the inaugural
Singapore Darts Masters with an 11–8 victory over
Simon Whitlock. A week later he averaged an incredible 118.21 in beating
Paul Nicholson 8–3 in the quarter-finals of the
Perth Darts Masters and went on to reach the final where Taylor beat him 11–9. Van Gerwen also won the 14th Players Championship with a 6–4 victory over Michael Smith. A week later, they contested the final of the
2014 European Darts Trophy, with Van Gerwen losing 6–5. His second major title of the year came at the
World Grand Prix as he edged a close final against James Wade 5–3 in sets. Seven days later, he beat Wade once more this time 6–2 in the final of the 18th Players Championship. He averaged 111 in eliminating Dave Chisnall 10–5 in the quarter-finals of the
European Championship and then threw his fourth career televised nine-darter during an 11–6 semi-final victory over Van Barneveld. Van Gerwen won the title with an 11–4 victory.
2015 Van Gerwen reached the semi-finals of the
2015 World Championship, by beating
Robert Thornton in the quarters. He played
Gary Anderson and lost 6–3. Van Gerwen won the
Masters by beating Van Barneveld 11–6 in the final. Van Gerwen won the second
UK Open Qualifier by beating
Vincent van der Voort 6–3 in the final. Van Gerwen also took the third event with a 6–1 triumph over
James Wade. He then won the
2015 German Darts Championship by defeating Anderson 6–2 in the final. He defeated
Jelle Klaasen in the final of the fourth UK Open Qualifier 6–5. In the
2015 UK Open, he won UK Open title with an 11–5 victory over Peter Wright in the final. He won his second European Tour event in a row at the
Gibraltar Darts Trophy with a 6–3 success over Terry Jenkins and made it a trio of titles by seeing off
John Henderson 6–5 at the
German Darts Masters, which saw him become the second player ever to reach £1 million in prize money on the
PDC Order of Merit, after
Phil Taylor. Van Gerwen continued to dominate the PDC circuit by claiming the fourth and sixth
Players Championship events with 6–1 and 6–5 wins over Lewis and Wade respectively. A 6–6 draw with
Dave Chisnall ensured he would finish top of the Premier League for the third year in a row. Van Gerwen beat Van Barneveld 10–8 to win the final but lost to Anderson 11–7 in the final. Van Gerwen maintained his unbeaten record in the
Dubai Darts Masters as he took his third title in a row by defeating Taylor 11–8 in the final. He stretched his unbeaten run to 20 matches in European Tour events as he claimed the
Dutch Darts Masters by whitewashing Justin Pipe 6–0. Van Gerwen and Van Barneveld were knocked out in the semi-finals of the
World Cup in a doubles match against Scotland's Anderson and Wright. Van Gerwen won his first
World Matchplay title by beating James Wade 18–12. It saw him overtake Wade as the PDC's second most successful player with nine major tournament wins, but still a long way behind Taylor who leads with 79. Michael Smith defeated Van Gerwen 6–2 in the final of the
European Darts Trophy, but he took the
European Darts Matchplay seven days later with a 6–4 success over Chisnall in the final. Van Gerwen hit 18 180s in the final of the
World Grand Prix against Robert Thornton, but ultimately missed too many doubles to be edged out 5–4 in sets. He looked set to lose a second successive major final when he trailed Gary Anderson 10–7 at the
European Championship, but won the next four legs without allowing the Scot a dart for the match to win 11–10. It marked the first time Van Gerwen had retained a major title. Van Gerwen won the
Grand Slam, with a 16–13 win over Phil Taylor in the final. The title completed Van Gerwen's set of winning all of the PDC's current majors during his career. In the final of the
World Series of Darts Finals, Van Gerwen came from 10–9 down to defeat Wright 11–10 with a 129 checkout and an 11-dart leg. He took his fourth televised title in a row at the
Players Championship Finals with an 11–6 win over Adrian Lewis. It also ensured he had featured in every televised final since the World Championship at the start of the year.
2016 Van Gerwen was defeated by Raymond van Barneveld in the third round of the
2016 World Championship in a shock result. However he retained his
Masters title by defeating Dave Chisnall 11–6 in the final. In week four of the
Premier League, Van Gerwen broke the televised average record with 123.40 in a 7–1 win over
Michael Smith. In the following round of fixtures, he averaged 116.67 in beating Peter Wright 7–2. A 7–5 win over Taylor saw Van Gerwen top the final Premier League table for the fourth year in a row. He won his second Premier League title (his first being in 2013) with an 11–3 victory over Taylor in what was Van Gerwen's fourth consecutive Premier League final. Taylor had led 2–1 but Van Gerwen soon took control of proceedings and won ten of the following eleven legs to complete a resounding win. Van Gerwen had won three of the six
UK Open Qualifiers and in the fourth round of the
main event he produced his fifth televised nine-dart finish while defeating Rob Cross 9–5. He also hit 170 finishes in the leg before and after the perfect leg. He recovered from 4–1 down to Taylor in the semi-finals to win 10–6 and, in a repeat of last year's final, bested Wright 11–4 to retain his title. Van Gerwen won his second consecutive
World Matchplay title with an 18–10 win over Taylor. He set a record average in a
World Grand Prix final of 100.29 as he claimed the title by beating Anderson 5–2. Van Gerwen claimed six of the ten European Tour events, five Players Championships and two World Series tournaments, as well as taking the main event of each of these tours, the
European Championship, the
World Series of Darts (beat Peter Wright 11–9) and the
Players Championship Finals (overcame Dave Chisnall 11–3). He also retained his
Grand Slam crown by defeating James Wade 16–8 in the final. His domination of the PDC circuit saw him win a total of 25 titles and £1.5 million in 2016, with a match success rate of 91%. Taking Van Gerwen's 2016 alone, his 9 major titles won that year would have (at the time) put him third on the all-time list for most major titles won, behind only himself and
Phil Taylor.
2017: Second world title Van Gerwen averaged over 100 in each of his four matches as he advanced to the semi-finals of the
2017 World Championship. Raymond van Barneveld won the first set without reply in the semis, but Van Gerwen then produced the greatest ever World Championship performance as he averaged a tournament record 114.05 (32 legs) in a 6–2 win. It beat Phil Taylor's previous best of 111.21 (23 legs) in the second round of the
2002 World Championship. In the last set, Van Gerwen missed a dart at double 12 for a nine-darter. In the final,
Gary Anderson left 28 to take a 3–1 lead, but Van Gerwen finished 86 to snipe that set, leveling the match at 2–2. Van Gerwen ultimately took 12 of the next 14 legs to establish a 6–2 lead. He got over the line to take his second World Championship crown with a 7–3 win. With this victory, he held all seven PDC major ranking titles at the same time. 42 180s were thrown in the final, the most ever in a darts match and Van Gerwen's average of 107.79 brought his average over the whole tournament to 106.32. The win cemented his number one ranking as he was over £1 million ahead of second placed Anderson. Van Gerwen won his third successive
Masters title by defeating Anderson 11–7 in the final. Van Gerwen threw two nine-darters during his third round 6–2 win over Ryan Murray at the fourth
UK Open Qualifier and he would take the title by beating Anderson 6–3 in the decider. He could not defend his
UK Open title because he was forced to withdraw from the event due to a back injury. In the
2017 edition of the Premier League, Van Gerwen successfully defended his title, topping the table of the league stage once again by winning nine matches, drawing four and losing two. After overcoming Anderson 10–7 in the semi-final, he would go on to face
Peter Wright in the final. Van Gerwen beat Wright to claim his third Premier League title, with a tournament average of 104.76. At the
World Cup, Netherlands secured their first title since 2014 by seeing off the Welsh pairing of
Gerwyn Price and
Mark Webster 3–1 in the final. Following early exits in the
Champions League and the
World Grand Prix, Van Gerwen went back to winning ways by claiming his
4th European Championship title by defeating
Rob Cross 11–7. Van Gerwen's next tournament was the
Grand Slam of Darts, winning all 3 of his group games to top Group A. He defeated
Steve Lennon in the last 16 by a convincing 10–3 win. Van Gerwen followed this by defeating
Rob Cross 16–13 in the quarter-finals, a 16–8 win over 6 time Grand Slam winner
Phil Taylor in the semi-finals and a 16–12 win over
Peter Wright in the final to claim his 3rd Grand Slam title.
2018 Van Gerwen reached the semi-final of the
2018 PDC World Championship but missed match darts and lost to debutant and eventual champion
Rob Cross 6–5. His next televised tournament was the
Masters, where he took his fourth consecutive win at the tournament beating
Raymond van Barneveld in the final after earlier wins over
Gary Anderson,
James Wade and
Kim Huybrechts. At the first
Pro Tour event of 2018,
UK Open Qualifier 1, he beat
Michael Smith in the final, averaging 105 for the tournament. He took his hundredth PDC singles title at the
next UK Open Qualifier with a win over
Darren Webster in the final, becoming the second player to do so after
Phil Taylor. He lost at the quarter final stage of the third qualifier to Smith, putting his earnings from the qualifiers over £20,000. Despite sitting out the final three qualifiers, his performances at the first three events was enough for him to top the UK Open Order of Merit and enter at the third round of the tournament. Drawn against
Jeffrey de Zwaan, he lost 8–10 with a 96 average. This was the first time since 2012 he exited before the quarter final stage at the tournament, and the first time he lost his first match of a televised tournament since the
World Grand Prix the year prior. He achieved a 6–2 victory over
Chris Dobey in
Players Championship 5. At the first
European Tour event of 2018, the
European Darts Open, he took his 21st European Tour title with an 8–7 victory over
Peter Wright. Van Gerwen and Wright would play each other again in the final of the
2018 German Darts Grand Prix, with Van Gerwen prevailing once again by a scoreline of 8–5. It was his 22nd European Tour title. He won Players Championship 9 by beating Scott Taylor 6–4 in the final. Van Gerwen played in the 10th Players Championship where he was beaten 4–6 by Jonny Clayton in the quarter-finals. Van Gerwen won the European Darts Grand Prix, his 23rd European Tour title and his 10th title of the year that included wins over Dave Chisnall in quarter-finals by a scoreline of 6–4, a 7–0 whitewash over Michael Smith in the semi-finals and an 8–3 victory over James Wade in the final. The following week, he won his 11th title of the year (his 24th European Tour title) by winning his 5th consecutive Dutch Darts Masters by beating Steve Lennon 8–5 in the final. Notably, in his semi-final match with Daryl Gurney, Van Gerwen trailed 2–6 as well as surviving 3 match darts but the Dutchman produced a comeback performance to knock out the Northern Irishman 7–6. His 12th title of the year followed shortly after on 17 May in winning the Premier League by beating Rob Cross 10–6 in the semi-finals and a comprehensive 11–4 victory over Michael Smith in the final with an average of 112.37, the highest ever average in a Premier League final. It was his 3rd consecutive Premier League title and his 4th Premier League title overall. His 13th title of the year would follow in the World Cup of Darts with partner Raymond van Barneveld. They successfully defended their title for The Netherlands with a 3–1 victory over Scottish pairing Peter Wright and Gary Anderson. The following weekend saw him win his 14th title of the year and his 25th European Tour title with a victory in the Gibraltar Darts Trophy by beating Adrian Lewis 8–3 in the final with an average of over 108. Van Gerwen returned to the winning circle by claiming his first World Series of Darts title of 2018 by defeating compatriot
Raymond van Barneveld 11–4 at the final of the
Auckland Darts Masters final. It was Van Gerwen's 16th title of 2018. Van Gerwen lifted the
2018 World Grand Prix title, the fourth time he had won that title, with a 5–2 win over
Peter Wright. He failed to retain the
European Championship,
World Series Finals and
Grand Slam titles in 2018, and lost the final of the
2018 Players Championship Finals to
Daryl Gurney.
2019: Third world title |280px Van Gerwen was top seed at the
2019 World Championship. He knocked
Alan Tabern out in the second round despite having beer thrown at him during the walk on, before consecutive 4–1 victories over
Max Hopp and former world champion
Adrian Lewis. He beat
Ryan Joyce 5–1 in the quarter-final to set up a semi-final with
Gary Anderson. A dominant semi-final performance by the Dutchman saw him triumph 6–1 over Anderson, to reach the final against
Michael Smith. He regained the world championship with a 7–3 win over Smith. Van Gerwen kicked off the 2019 circuit with winning the
2019 Masters, defeating James Wade 11–5 in the final to secure his fifth consecutive
Masters title. The next two weeks, Van Gerwen won
Players Championship 1 and
3, henceforth breaking Phil Taylor's ProTour title record. He retained his
Premier League title yet again, beating
Daryl Gurney 10–7 in the semi-finals, and beating
Rob Cross 11–5 in the final. Van Gerwen retained his
World Grand Prix title with a win over
Dave Chisnall, and won the
Champions League of Darts for the first time, recovering from three legs down to beat
Peter Wright 11–10. He regained his
Players Championship Finals title, beating
Gerwyn Price in the final, and hitting the only televised
nine-dart finish of the year, in the second round against
Adrian Lewis.
2020 Van Gerwen was again top seed at the
2020 World Championship. He easily reached the quarter-final, recovering from losing the first set to
Jelle Klaasen in the second round to win, before consecutive 4–0 victories over
Ricky Evans and former
BDO World Champion Stephen Bunting. In the quarter-final, he triumphed over
Darius Labanauskas, 5–2, to qualify for the semi-final for the seventh time in eight championships. There he beat
Nathan Aspinall 6–3 to set up a final with
Peter Wright. Van Gerwen was defeated in that final, 7–3. At the
2020 Masters, Van Gerwen lost in the first round to
Jonny Clayton, ending his run of five years as the tournament's champion, and a 20 match unbeaten run at the
Marshall Arena. In March he won the
UK Open for the third time, beating
Gerwyn Price 11–9 in the final. In his run through to the final, he hit his seventh career televised
nine-darter, against
Daryl Gurney in the semi-finals. In November he won the
Players Championship Finals for the 6th time, beating
Mervyn King 11–10 in the final.
2021 Van Gerwen opened up his
2021 World Championship campaign with a 3–1 win over Ryan Murray, averaging 108.98 points in the match. In the last 16, he battled back from 1–3 down to defeat
Joe Cullen 4–3 and reach the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals, he was
whitewashed 0–5 by
Dave Chisnall. This loss resulted in Van Gerwen dropping to number 2 in the
world rankings, following
Gerwyn Price's World Championship victory. Van Gerwen then went on to lose in consecutive TV tournaments, losing in the
Masters to
Jonny Clayton and in the semi-finals of the
UK Open to
Luke Humphries. Van Gerwen then proceeded to top the
Premier League but consequently went on to lose to eventual winner Jonny Clayton in the semi-finals. Van Gerwen reached the final of PC20 but was beaten by
Peter Wright in the tournament decider. Van Gerwen had another great run in the
World Matchplay but was beaten in the semi-finals by eventual winner Peter Wright.
2022 In his
2022 World Championship opener, Van Gerwen beat Chas Barstow before withdrawing prior to his third-round match with
Chris Dobey after testing positive for
COVID-19. In July, Van Gerwen reached the final of the
World Matchplay for the first time in six years, where he defeated
Gerwyn Price to win his third World Matchplay title, meaning that he had won at every PDC Premier Event that was held in 2022 at least three times. Van Gerwen also added to two further ranking TV titles like the
World Grand Prix for the sixth time, beating
Nathan Aspinall in the final; and won the
2022 Players Championship Finals with an 11–6 victory over
Rob Cross. He also won the
2022 Premier League against
Joe Cullen in the final.
2023 Van Gerwen opened his
2023 World Championship campaign with a 3–0 victory over
Lewy Williams, before defeating
Mensur Suljović 4–2 with an average of 107.66. A fourth round win over
Dirk van Duijvenbode was followed by
whitewash victories over
Chris Dobey and
Dimitri Van den Bergh, the latter with a 108.28 average, qualified Van Gerwen for his sixth World Darts Championship final, where he lost 7–4 to
Michael Smith. At the
2023 UK Open, Van Gerwen was the runner-up, winning matches against
Dave Chisnall,
Martijn Kleermaker,
Luke Humphries,
Nathan Aspinall and Dimitri Van den Bergh, before losing the final to
Andrew Gilding in a deciding leg. An 11–5 victory over
Gerwyn Price saw Van Gerwen defend his title in the
2023 Premier League, a record seventh title in the competition moving him clear of Phil Taylor. At the
2023 Players Championship Finals, Van Gerwen broke the record for the highest average in the tournament's history, defeating
Ross Smith 6–1 with an average of 118.52. He eventually was the runner-up after he lost to
Luke Humphries 11–9 in the final.
2024 In the
2024 World Championship, Van Gerwen cruised through his first three matches, defeating
Keane Barry,
Richard Veenstra, and
Stephen Bunting without dropping a single set to reach the quarterfinals. However, in his next match, poor finishing by Van Gerwen led to a shock 5–3 defeat to the unseeded Pro Tour qualifier
Scott Williams. At the
Masters, Van Gerwen reached the final, but was defeated 11–7 by
Stephen Bunting. At the
2024 UK Open, Van Gerwen suffered a shock fourth-round defeat to
Mensur Suljović, losing five legs on the spin en route to a 7–10 loss. He achieved four nightly wins during the
2024 Premier League league phase, finishing third in the table and qualifying for the playoffs. He lost to
Luke Humphries 10–5 in the semi-finals. He reached the final of the
2024 World Matchplay but lost 18–15 to Luke Humphries.
2025 In his campaign at the
2025 World Championship, Van Gerwen was the third seed. He whitewashed
James Hurrell 3–0 in the second round, then defeated
Brendan Dolan 4–2 before securing another 4–2 victory in the fourth round against
Jeffrey de Graaf. A 5–3 win against
Callan Rydz saw him progress to the semi-finals, where he beat
Chris Dobey 6–1 to enter his seventh world championship final. Van Gerwen lost the final to
Luke Littler 7–3, with Littler beating Van Gerwen's record as the youngest PDC world champion. After hitting a nine-dart finish against
Ryan Searle in the third round of the
German Darts Grand Prix, Van Gerwen went on to win the tournament by defeating
Gian van Veen 8–5 in the final. During the
2025 Premier League, Van Gerwen missed out on qualification for the play-offs for only the second time in 13 years after losing 6–2 to
Nathan Aspinall in the quarter-finals on night 16, who took the last remaining place. He ended the 2025 league stage without achieving a nightly win. At the
2025 World Series of Darts Finals, Van Gerwen defeated Luke Littler 11–7 in the final to end a two-year wait for a major trophy since he won the
2023 iteration of the same competition. In October, Van Gerwen was a semi-finalist at the
European Championship, being beaten 11–9 by eventual champion Gian van Veen. Van Gerwen failed to qualify for the
Players Championship Finals for the first time in his career after withdrawing from the final three
Players Championship events of the year and finishing outside of the top 64 on the
Players Championship Order of Merit.
2026 At the
2026 World Championship, Van Gerwen followed victories over Mitsuhiko Tatsunami and
William O'Connor with a 4–1 win against
Arno Merk to progress to the fourth round. He was eliminated by
Gary Anderson in a 4–1 defeat, marking Van Gerwen's earliest World Championship exit in a decade. Van Gerwen won his 17th
World Series title at the
Bahrain Darts Masters, defeating
Gian van Veen 8–6 in the final. He reached the final of the inaugural
Saudi Arabia Darts Masters a week later, where he lost 8–5 to
Luke Littler. ==Playing style and persona==