Michael van Gerwen says Peter Wright should retire from darts and is “unsurprised” the two-time world champion was knocked out in the second round of the World Championships.
Wright was whitewashed 3-0 by Germany’s Arno Merk on Tuesday as his already difficult 2025 ended with a premature exit at Alexandra Palace.
Van Gerwen’s comments come a week after Wright claimed the Dutchman’s “vision will probably come true”.
“I wasn’t really surprised by his performance because he’s been playing around recently,” Van Gerwen said after his 3-1 win over William O’Connor.
“Anyway, I think it’s time for him to retire.”
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Michael van Gerwen has responded to Peter Wright’s claims of poor eyesight at the World Darts Championships.
After losing his World Championship opener at the end of 2023, Wright took a major downward turn and fell down the rankings. Wright, 55, is almost certain to drop out of the top 32 after this year’s tournament at Alexandra Palace.
He has won just two games in the entire 2024 Premier League Darts Series and has failed to get past the quarter-finals of any televised ranking tournament in the past two years.
Gary Anderson, another Scotland veteran and two-time world champion, says Wright needs “a little time”.
“We can’t play well all the time. People think we’re robots and we just have to play well all the time. Otherwise, they think, ‘He’s done, he’s retired,'” he said.
“Just give people a break. We can’t keep doing that every day. We’ve seen Michael van Gerwen do that for probably the last 10 years. He’s got a blimp and he’s like, ‘That’s it, I’m done.’
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Arno Merk defeated Peter Wright in the second round of the World Championship.
Mardle: Wright shouldn’t make knee-jerk reactive decisions about the future.
Wayne Mardle, Sky Sports Darts:
“It was a terrible watch, not the least bit enjoyable to watch a legend of our sport and a champion who helped grow it.
“I don’t know what question Peter will ask himself: ‘It’s OK. I’ll keep going. I love the game.’ It would be the same question. And I hope that happens.
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Take a look at the Christmas costumes Peter Wright has treated Alexandra Palace crowds to over the years.
“He’s always said, ‘I don’t want to retire, I like it,’ so I don’t want him to have a knee-jerk reaction because that’s what happened at the World Championships.
“If you play like that anywhere else, that’s fine, you don’t really think about it, but when you do that at the World Championships, and you know this because I’ve done it, you end up questioning whether you’re good enough to compete again.
“And it’s about competition and winning. He’s a winner. I hope he’s okay because you’ll think about it. On those sleepless nights, I hope he doesn’t have a knee-jerk reaction like we’ve seen with other players.
“He is a classy ambassador for darts. Not only does he bring fun, but he also brings incredible ability and class.”
Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every match live exclusively until January 3 on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel (Sky Channel 407). Stream darts and other top sports with NOW.
