MICHAEL VAN GERWEN admitted that his BetVictor World Matchplay defeat to Phil Taylor was "painful" after seeing his reign as champion in Blackpool ended.
Van Gerwen's bid to claim a third successive World Matchplay triumph was derailed when Taylor claimed a heavy 16-6 win in Friday's quarter-final at the Winter Gardens.
The world number one had defeated Stephen Bunting and Simon Whitlock to reach the quarter-finals, but paid the price for 21 missed doubles as Taylor defied the bookies' odds to storm to victory.
"I wasn't 100 percent and that's my fault," said Van Gerwen, speaking to RTL7. "I have to accept it, even though it's painful.
"The last ten legs or so felt like torture but Phil played well. He took every chance to hurt me and I didn't - I didn't take any chances at all and that hurts, but I have to deal with that.
"My form wasn't there and it wasn't there in the first two matches as well. Looking at my average of 101 it's not good enough when you play Phil - I missed so many doubles, I was poor.
"I don't blame the crowd. These things happen in Rotterdam, Aberdeen and Germany as well and when you're 100 percent focused you can deal with that."
Van Gerwen will now have a break during August, with wife Daphne due to give birth to their first child in the coming weeks.
The 28-year-old will miss the World Series of Darts events in Auckland, Melbourne and Perth before his planned return to action at the Dutch Darts Masters in Maastricht.
"I'm taking a month off now, Daphne is giving birth to our daughter soon and I'm looking forward to that very much," added Van Gerwen.
"After that month I've got to focus again on the darts and make sure I'm ready for the upcoming tournaments."