Michael van Gerwen Enters 2025 World Championship Focused on Family and a Return to Glory
Michael van Gerwen, 36, approaches the 2025 World Championship as the third seed, following a year marked by significant personal and professional challenges including a divorce, his father's battle with cancer, and intense media scrutiny. Despite these upheavals, van Gerwen emphasizes that he has shifted his priorities to focus on his family. His children, Zoë, aged 8, and Mike, 5, have changed his perspective, requiring him to balance his practice schedule with parenting duties.
Previously holding the world No 1 position from 2014 to 2021, van Gerwen's reign lasted 2,559 days, making it the longest in the modern era. His last world championship title was in January 2019. Since then, he has reached the world finals in 2020, 2023, and 2025 but has not secured the title. He attributes some of the challenges to the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which affected both his form and the atmosphere created by the crowds — something he finds energizing and missed during lockdowns.
Van Gerwen faces a major upcoming challenge in the form of Luke Littler, the 18-year-old current world No 1 who beat him in the most recent world final. Despite Littler's youth and advantages at this stage of his life, van Gerwen acknowledges him as a significant threat. Personally, van Gerwen remains single and is open to the possibility of a new relationship, though he insists he will not be controlled by media pressures in the Netherlands or elsewhere.
Despite recent setbacks, van Gerwen remains confident in his abilities and is determined to regain his world championship title, reaffirming his conviction that he will win this year.
