Vincent van der Voort has expressed deep sympathy for fellow Dutchman Jeffrey de Zwaan after de Zwaan squandered a 5-0 lead to lose 6-5 to Dave Chisnall in a Euro Tour match. Speaking on the Darts Draait Door podcast, Van der Voort called the defeat "really painful" and said he knows exactly how it feels, having once suffered an identical collapse himself.
Van der Voort recalled his own experience at a Euro Tour event in Gibraltar, where he led Nathan Aspinall 5-0 before losing 6-5. "It's probably still on YouTube—but I've no desire to watch it back," he admitted. He explained the psychological trap: "At 5-0, you think you're already there. Then it becomes 5-1—no problem. At 5-3, you start thinking, 'This needs to finish now.' Before you know it, it's 5-5. Then it becomes very difficult."
The former pro described the intense frustration that follows such a loss. "Walking into the practice room, I thought, 'The first person who laughs is getting punched.' Of course, I didn't do that—but those thoughts go through your head," Van der Voort said. He added that the feeling lingers: "Luckily, someone had my bag ready and guided me straight back to the hotel. You just want to disappear. And then you get messages from people asking, 'How did that happen?'—which doesn't help."
Van der Voort emphasized that de Zwaan should use the anger as motivation. "The key is not to feel sorry for yourself, but to be angry that it happened—to make sure it never happens again. Because it really hurts, and you feel embarrassed walking off stage," he said. He noted that de Zwaan, who doesn't play the Euro Tour often and has to qualify each time, missed a crucial opportunity: "A win over someone like Chisnall could have given him a great opportunity in the next round."
Despite the setback, Van der Voort believes de Zwaan has the talent to rebound. "With Jeffrey, we all know he needs to get going. He's not someone who can easily switch it on by himself—it almost needs to be forced out of him. But that's exactly what would benefit him now: putting in the work and really committing to it," he concluded.
