Michael van Gerwen silenced his critics as he bounced back to title-winning form at the Autumn Series in Germany on Monday.
The world number one, who failed to reach the Premier League play-offs for the first time in his career last week, headed to Niedernhausen with a lot of questions to answer over his alarming run of results.
But after reaching the semi-finals of Saturday's Players Championship event to Peter Wright 7-6 - with an average of 106 - and then losing to eventual champion Damon Heta 24 hours later in round two, van Gerwen won the 132nd PDC title of his career on Monday.
He thrashed Mensur Suljovic 8-1 in the final to pocket the top prize of £10,000 prize while he'd earlier got revenge over Heta 6-0 and thrashed Premier League table-topper Glen Durrant 6-2 with an average of 105. That was his first ever win over Duzza at the fifth attempt following three losses and one draw.
His best average of the day was 106.1 in a whitewash over Dirk van Duijvenbode and on this evidence he'll be a real threat as ever for the final two events of the Autumn Series.
His other victories were 7-4 over Nick Kenny in the semi-finals and also Reece Robinson (6-2) and Andy Hamilton (6-4)
🤔 Crisis, what crisis?
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) September 14, 2020
🏆 There's few better at bouncing back in world sport than Michael van Gerwen. After all the talk about being on the decline, he's just won the 132nd individual title of his career.@MvG180 pic.twitter.com/x5dxHQ6eI4
"I'm back. I've just told everyone, I'm still the boss. They all know I'm still the boss. Don't worry," said Van Gerwen, who won two events at July's Summer Series as well as the Ladbrokes UK Open.
"Almost [back to my best]. I know there's more in the tank. I feel there is more. You need to make sure you come back stronger. That's exactly what I did. Today I think I did the right things at the right moments. I didn't make any mistakes. My finishing was good. My scoring could have been better, but I can't really complain. I'm a happy man."
He later added: "You have to play your A-game to win tournaments like this. I had some tough games today. I played Damon Heta again after he beat me yesterday.
"Apart from yesterday, the last few days I have felt a lot more comfortable than I did before.
"Of course it was nice to beat Glen Durrant for first time. He's a phenomenal player but I should've beaten him last time.
"There's always pressure on my back. I didn't perform how I can in the Premier League but that's how darts goes sometimes.
"I'm human but I will come back stronger, everyone knows that and I believe in my own ability."
The 16th Players Championship event of the year also saw Lisa Ashton, the first female winner of a Tour Card in January, reach the last 16 of a ProTour event for the first time.
Welshman Kenny, also a Tour Card winner in January, reached his first PDC semi-final, while Australia's Heta backed up his Day Two title win with a run to the last eight.
