Callan Rydz has revealed Dimitri Van den Bergh's pre-match mind games lit the fuse that sparked his third round demolition . Rydz did not drop a set in his first two matches at the PDC World Darts Championship as he breezed past Romeo Grbavac and Martin Schindler. However, No.
11 seed Van den Bergh presented a much tougher challenge for Rydz. Well, at least on paper. Once the game began, it looked like Rydz was the man who deserved the high seeding and not Van den Bergh.
The 26-year-old was dominant from start to finish as he decimated Van den Bergh 4-0 and recorded a sensational three-dart average of 105.31 on his way to victory. It wasn't even Rydz's highest figure of the tournament, having averaged 107.
06 in his first round match against Grbavac. Speaking in his post-match press conference, Rydz revealed it was a pre-match comment from Van den Bergh that played a key role in his blistering performance on Sunday afternoon. Recalling how his rival's use of mind games came to his attention, Rydz said: "It was one of my best friends.
"He went, 'Have you seen Dimitri's interview?' I went, 'No.' He went, 'He called you unstable.' "I went, 'He's not wrong,' but I think that was the fire in the belly that I needed.
" Although Rydz has presented himself as a cool customer on the oche at the World Championship, he has had his struggles with the mental side of the game in recent years. At the 2024 Hungarian Darts Trophy, Rydz cut a devastated figure after he blew a 5-2 lead to eventua.
