Gabriel Clemens becomes more confident from World Cup game to World Cup game. Before the eagerly awaited quarter-finals against Primus Gerwyn Price on New Year’s Day (8.30 p.m. / Sport1 and DAZN), the 39-year-old said: “It’s a nice experience. I hope it’s not the first and last time.”
He feels great and is in great shape, added the “German Giant”. He is aware of the outsider role against the Welshman Price, but he still sees the match in German TV prime time as a 50:50 duel. What has made the German number one so strong in London over the past two weeks?
Performance level:
Compared to the last World Cup, when Clemens twice played under 90 points on average, the trained machine fitter has improved significantly. His so-called averages in this tournament: First 95.64 points, then 97.55 and in the round of 16 93.96. Those are decent values. Clemens seems stable and hardly affords any longer phases of weakness. Two of his three victories were very sovereign.
strong nerves:
And the third was as tight and gripping as possible. The 4:3 against the strong Welshman Jim Williams provided proof of the good nerves Clemens has at the current World Cup. Williams even missed a match dart – and then didn’t get too many chances because Clemens turned up the heat in the hot phase. “It works well with the deciders at the World Cup, I’ve won a lot of sets with 3-2 legs,” said the German, describing his new strength.
German audience:
When Clemens walks into the Alexandra Palace to “Wonderwall” by Oasis, the fans are usually clearly on his side. Especially after Christmas, numerous German supporters were present in London. With songs like “Oh, how is that nice” and “Without Germany there would be nothing going on here” they played “Ally Pally” – and fueled the sporting success of “Gaga”.
luck of the draw:
Unlike quarterfinalists Stephen Bunting (victories over Dave Chisnall and Luke Humphries) and Chris Dobey (victories over former world champions Gary Anderson and Rob Cross), Clemens had a favorable draw. Former European champion James Wade was thrown out before the direct duel, as did the strong Dutchman Danny Noppert. Ireland’s William O’Connor, Welshman Williams and Scotland’s Alan Soutar, while established pros on the tour, are not among the top 32 in the rankings. Reaching the Quarterfinals without beating a seed is fortunate.
