MIKE DE DECKER broke down in tears after beating Luke Humphries after the six days that changed his life.
Just under a week ago the Belgian was World No36, a 100-1 shot to win the World Grand Prix and way outside the world’s elite names.
Mike De Decker beat Luke Humphries to win the World Grand Prix[/caption]
It comes just four years after he reclaimed his pro tour card[/caption]
Now he’s World No24, talked about as a Premier League player and EIGHTH favourite to win the World Championship.
Yet De Decker, 28, admits he nearly quit five years ago after losing his tour card.
But he’s also been involved in the biggest darting scandal of the year after a heated row with compatriot Kim Huybrechts.
In late February a video surfaced in which Huybrechts had a fight with De Decker. Huybrechts was fined by the PDC for this.
Huybrechts said at the time: “My wife had put a post online expressing her disappointment that Mike had said things behind my back on the Tour that had come to my ears.
“I hadn’t addressed him on that at the time because I just wanted to avoid confrontation. Then someone from Mike’s family called my wife with threats, also to my children.
“As a father you always want to protect your family, especially when you hear things like that. Then I snapped.
“I should never have reacted like that, I was rightly reprimanded for that. But when it comes to my family I am quite sensitive.”
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However, Tamara Gauwe, De Decker’s mother, denies via a post on Facebook that she made threats to Huybrechts’ family.
She said: “If Kim is going to make the same threats to Mike that he did to Dimitri, he’s not going to get away with it.
“That’s exactly the threat I made to Dana (Huybrechts’ wife). At no time did I threaten or name her and/or the children. That she makes a different story out of it afterwards, that’s up to her.
“Anyone who knows me knows that I am straightforward, sometimes too crude, but I am not a liar.
“Everyone believes what they want, I know I can look at myself in the mirror. I will always stand up for my son if he is wronged.”
Away from the oche, De Decker – nicknamed The Real Deal – once dated Elke Clijsters, a Belgian tennis professional who was crowned as Miss Bachelorette Belgium.
However, last summer, Clijsters confirmed that she had broken up with De Decker. “Ask me a question,” Clijsters posted on her Instagram Stories after returning from Ibiza.
And one fan asked: “How are you and Mike?” However, she responded: “Mike and I have not been together since recently, we are better as friends.”
De Decker’s rise to glory has taken a decade since first arriving on the PDC Youth Tour in 2014.
He missed out on his first bid for a PDC Tour Card a year later.
But his success on the PDC Development Tour saw him win a Tour Card for 2016 and 2017 before losing his card at the end of that year.
After two unsuccessful tour card bids, De Decker admits he almost quit.
But finally during the pandemic he won back his place in the PDC elite at the European Q-School in Hildesheim.
De Decker qualified for the 2021 Grand Slam of Darts in November via the Tour Card Holder qualifier.
However, he only won one leg in three group matches against Peter Wright, Gabriel Clemens and Fallon Sherrock and finished the group stage in last place with a leg difference of -14.
He won opening matches in the last three Worlds but also went out in the second round on each occasion to Dave Chisnall, Mensur Suljovic and Madars Razma.
This year his form has suddenly improved and beat Ricky Evans to win his first senior PDC title at Players Championship 16.
Now he’s only the second Belgian player to win a PDC major after Dimitri Van den Bergh.
Winning a major title immediately puts De Decker in the frame for being given a place in the Premier League – but he admits he’s not prepared for such a challenge.
He added: “To be honest, I don’t think I’m ready for the Premier League just yet.
“It’s 14 weeks against the top eight of the world every single week, and it’s so hard.
“I’ve seen it with Kim (Huybrechts), I’ve seen it with Dimitri (Van den Bergh), I’ve seen it with Jelle (Klaasen), who is a good friend.
“If they put me in, I’ll say yes, 100 per cent, but if they don’t put me in, then that’s fine. Then maybe next year or the year after.”
