Richard Veenstra: ‘Michael deserves the world title’
“That’s a different story, isn’t it?” Veenstra said with a laugh after Van Gerwen’s masterclass. “You still have hope for a while that you can start well and that he will then get shivers, but that didn’t bother him, haha! Despondent? Yes, everyone who has to go after Michael becomes despondent. He is too good, I have a lot of respect for that.”
Still, Veenstra goes home with a good feeling. “You can only learn from this, right? Every time I turned around there was another 140 or 180 in it. I felt really good, but after 1-0 and 2-0 the enjoyment becomes less and you want to get a set on the board. All credits go to Michael,” says Veenstra, who hopes so Mighty Mike will lift the cup. “I think he deserves it again, but it won’t be easy.”
Afterwards they had a moment together on stage: “He said: you are doing well and keep it up, let’s go to the top 32! That’s nice,” Veenstra concluded.