Kim Huybrechts would like to see an element of Wimbledon tennis in darts as he doubled down on his criticism of hostile fans.
The Belgian was left furious after being regularly barracked during the World Cup of Darts in Germany last month. After his exit from the tournament, he took to social media to hit out at the hostility of German crowds and urged the PDC not to hold so many tournaments in the country.
Speaking ahead of the World Matchplay in Blackpool, where he meets Dave Chisnell in the first round on Monday night, he urged darts fans to show the sort of respect tennis players are afforded during the tournament.
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“I still think it is the same,” he said of his criticism of darts, reported DartsNews. “I was looking at Wimbledon the other day and there was a British player [Cameron Norrie] playing against Djokovic.
“They were so respectful for every point Djokovic made. I think at the moment in darts, it's very sad but you just don't get the respect from fans when you play a local player.
He added: “The booing has to stop and the whistling and the name calling. I've been called names on stage for the first time in 10 years as a professional. It’s going to get worse and worse. Players have to have a say in that and have to say this is enough.”
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“It’s not so intensive in England. It feels like in Germany, we have the most hostility. Also when you have to play the European Tour and you have got seven tournaments in Germany, I just don't think that's fair. It needs to be more spread out.
“Why don’t we have three or four in Holland? Why don't we have two in Austria, two or three in Belgium? Why does it have to be six or seven in Germany.”
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