‘I’m not on the posters any more, you know, it’s hard’ – Darts legend opens up on pain after dropping down the rankings
RAYMOND VAN BARNEVELD admits it is "hard" to no longer be a favourite to win the World Darts Championship.
The five-time world champion has dropped down the rankings in recent years and last reached the final of a major in 2018 at the Masters.
But Barney is confident he can beat anyone on his day, with world number one Luke Humphries a potential third-round opponent.
However Van Barneveld still finds it difficult that he is no longer considered one of the favourites to win the worlds.
He told the : "I’m not on the posters any more, you know. It’s hard that no one says, 'Oh Ray’s going to win this'.
"We have to be realistic. I’m 57 years old, I came back after I retired. But in my head, anything is still possible.
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"I know if I win my first round and Humphries wins his first round, we meet already quite soon in the championship, but if you’re strong enough in your head and you work hard and you believe that you can do this, I wouldn’t be surprised if I can give Luke a good game or maybe even beat him."
Van Barneveld, 57, last won the World Darts Championship in 2007, which is also the same year he last won a PDC event - winning the UK Open and the Dessert Classic.
But he is still a regular on Tour and reached the fourth round at Ally Pally last time out, where he lost to runner-up Luke Littler.
Van Barneveld believes he can still beat the best, and he send a warning to potential opponent Humphries.
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Darts World Championship full draw
Second round draw (seeded vs first-round winner)
- Luke Humphries vs Thibault Tricole or Joe Comito
- Raymond van Barneveld vs Nick Kenny or Stowe Buntz
- James Wade vs Jermaine Wattimena or Stefan Bellmont
- Peter Wright vs Wesley Plaisier or Ryusei Azemoto
- Stephen Bunting vs Alan Soutar or Kai Gotthardt
- Dirk van Duijvenbode vs Madars Ramza or Christian Kist
- Damon Heta vs Connor Scutt or Ben Robb
- Mike De Decker vs Luke Woodhouse or Lourence Ilagan
- Luke Littler vs Ryan Meikle or Fallon Sherrock
- Ritchie Edhouse vs Ian White or Sandro Eric Sosing
- Danny Noppert vs Ryan Joyce or Darius Labanauskas
- Ryan Searle vs Mensur Suljovic or Matt Campbell
- Rob Cross vs Scott Williams or Niko Springer
- Gian van Veen vs Ricardo Pietreczko or Xiaochen Zong
- Nathan Aspinall vs Cameron Menzies or Leonard Gates
- Andrew Gilding vs Martin Lukeman or Nitin Kumar
- Michael Smith vs Kevin Doets or Noa-Lynn van Leuven
- Krzysztof Ratajski vs Richard Veenstra or Alexis Toylo
- Chris Dobey vs Stephen Burton or Alexander Merkx
- Josh Rock vs Karel Sedlacek or Rhys Griffin
- Jonny Clayton vs Mickey Mansell or Tomoya Goto
- Daryl Gurney vs Florian Hempel or Jeffrey de Zwaan
- Gerwyn Price vs Kim Huybrechts or Keane Barry
- Joe Cullen vs Wessel Nijman or Cameron Carolissen
- Michael van Gerwen vs James Hurrell or Jim Long
- Brendan Dolan vs Chris Landman or Lok Yin Lee
- Gary Anderson vs Jeffrey de Graaf or Rashad Sweeting
- Ross Smith vs Jim Williams or Paolo Nebrida
- Dave Chisnall vs Ricky Evans or Gordon Mathers
- Gabriel Clemens vs Niels Zonneveld or Robert Owen
- Dimitri Van den Bergh vs William O’Connor or Dylan Slevin
- Martin Schindler vs Callan Rydz or Romeo Grbavac
He continued: "I can do a lot of damage and everyone knows that. I’m pretty sure if Luke meets me in the third round, he’s pretty sure that he needs to play a good game against me, otherwise I will maybe punish him.
"The whole world knows that, I know that, but it has to happen on that night.
"He knows what I can do, but he’s the one at the moment, he’s the best player. But, honestly, it doesn’t really matter if you get Michael van Gerwen first round, [Ricardo] Pietreczko or Martin Schindler or Gian van Veen.
"You know you always have to play your top game and that’s what I’m going to do and that’s what I’m going to prepare myself for.”