Raymond van Barneveld (66/1 to win tournament) says he has “nothing to lose” and he is heading into the Grand Slam of Darts with his expectations in check.
‘Barney’ announced his intentions to come out of retirement last year and after successfully coming through Qualifying School in February, won his first title in just his third tournament back at the Players Championship.
The 2007 PDC world champion will now be lining up in one of the most prestigious tournaments on the calendar when the Grand Slam of Darts gets underway at Aldersley Leisure Village on Saturday.
Van Barneveld booked his place in the 32-player event by overcoming Alan Soutar, World Grand Prix semi-finalist Danny Noppert and a resurgent Brendan Dolan in qualifying, but despite those impressive results, he is keeping his expectation levels grounded heading into the main event.
“I feel I have nothing to lose. I’m not going to say I’m going to win this tournament or I’m going to the Worlds or the Players Championship,” Van Barneveld told The Darts Show podcast.
“I’m just happy to be back on the biggest stage. This is what it’s all about. I missed it. The Grand Slam of Darts is a great opportunity.”
The 32 players contesting this year’s Grand Slam of Darts have been drawn into eight groups of four, with the top two in each group advancing through to the knockout stages.
Van Barneveld has been drawn in Group H alongside Gary Anderson, Joe Davis and Michael Smith and he will get his campaign underway on Saturday evening against the latter of that trio (Smith 8/15, Van Barneveld 6/4 – Match Betting).
World number one Gerwyn Price will get his tournament up and running on Saturday afternoon, with the two-time former champion set to face Nathan Rafferty in his Group A opener (Price 2/15, Rafferty 5/1 – Match Betting).
Michael van Gerwen has been pitted in Group G and he will face Lisa Ashton in his opening match (Van Gerwen 1/10, Ashton 6/1 – Match Betting) – Joe Cullen and John Henderson will be his other opponents in that group.
Defending champion Jose de Sousa will face Canadian Matt Campbell in his Group F opener (De Sousa 1/4, Campbell 3/1 – Match Betting), while the man he beat in last year’s final, James Wade, will be up against Jim Williams in Group C (Wade 1/2, Williams 8/5 – Match Betting).
All 32 players will contest their opening matches on Saturday, with the tournament in Wolverhampton set to reach a conclusion on November 21 – the winner will pick up a £125,000 share of the £500,000 prize fund.