No game-to-game predictions for this years World Matchplay, simply because I don’t have the time for it. Still I don’t want this wonderful event to pass by without paying attention. I've said it before, but I like to repeat, this tournament is played in the most beautiful dart temple around. The Empress Ballroom in the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. As a player you must be impressed when you first climb the podium. Of course, Phil Taylor has been crowned champion here more often (10 times) than all the other players combined. And of course he is again this year, the towering favourite. Since 2000 he lost only twice. In 2005 to John Part and in 2007 to Terry Jenkins. Who can stop him this year? I do not expect it to be Barry Bates in the first round. If Paul Nicholson beats Steve Beaton in his first round we will get a repeat of the Players Championship Finals semi-finals in the second round of this tournament. Back then, in January Nicholson beat Taylor after a thriller. But we all know what Taylor does with someone who has beaten him once; he usually gives him a spanking on stage. Phil will be in the quarterfinals by then. In the quarter final he will always get someone he often encountered, and defeated. I do not think any of the four potential opponents is able to give Phil a good run. Perhaps it is the most interesting if he plays against Mark Walsh, who has at least beaten him a few times on the floor in recent years. On paper, Taylor will have a real battle in the semis. Will his opponent be Whitlock, King, Gary Anderson or a surprise? My feeling tells me that there may be a surprise out of the hat there. Terry Jenkins and Jelle Klaasen are also in this quarter of the draw and may have slipped under the radar. If you make predictions with common sense you’ll probably predict Simon Whitlock to be there, but often things go different. To win this year’s World Matchplay the semi-final will be a high hurdle for Taylor. And of course in the final also an opponent of stature awaits. Perhaps it will be Van Barneveld who has trained a lot in recent months and Blackpool will kick off his darting season. He will play nearly all tournaments the tournaments until the end of the year, to work towards that ultimate title: the World Championship. Besides Van Barneveld and Klaasen, Vincent van der Voort and Co Stompé will also participate in this year's World Matchplay. So there is enough to look forward to in this tournament. Starting Thursday, we will start broadcasting with Sport1 doing all the matches live from Blackpool. I know it's not an ideal situation that not the whole tournament is broadcasted, but there are choices to be made, even in TV land. There is a budget for a certain amount of days of darts which are then picked as best as possible. We’ve had quite a number of years where we have been spoiled with many multi-day tournaments that were all broadcasted, but the reality is that there is not sufficient demand from the viewers in the Netherlands for darts at this moment. That will certainly not be the case with the readers of this, but unfortunately there is more to it than a few thousand viewers to get expensive TV time. Again, I do regret, but for now we have to be satisfied with it. Perhaps in the near future things will change.

Lots of fun with this wonderful tournament.
Jacques Nieuwlaat