Van Gerwen issues statement following return to action

Michael van Gerwen has issued the following statement following his return to action at last weekend's Interwetten European Darts Matchplay, having recently undergone pre-planned surgery...

I just wanted to send an update to everyone following my recent dental surgery and my return to action on Saturday.

Firstly, I'd like to thank all my fans for their support in recent weeks, and also congratulate Raymond for his win over me in Trier - his finishing was brilliant.

After winning the Premier League and US Darts Masters recently, I needed to have pre-planned dental and jaw surgery which meant that I missed the World Cup of Darts.

With the schedule being so busy it is always hard to fit in anything like this, especially with an operation which involves a lot of recovery time.

In my case, I might not look or sound the same for a little while and I'll also soon have braces fitted as well as needing some further surgery in future.

I don't want this to affect my performances in the Poland Darts Masters and World Matchplay coming up and I'll be trying my best to win both events, but at the moment I'm also still recovering and hope that everyone can understand this.

Thanks for your support.