singles match versus Lewis knowing a win would earn the Dutch pair the title and he did so with a 4–2 success. Early on in his second round match against Mervyn King at the World Grand Prix, Van Barneveld was visibly struggling with a back problem but battled to trail 2–1 in sets. However, in the fourth set he missed 30 starting doubles and began throwing at the bullseye. King duly won the match, with Van Barneveld issuing an apology to the PDC and the television viewers for giving up. At the next major event, the European Championship, Van Barneveld wore glasses during a match for the first time in his career and explained after his 6–4 first round win over Simon Whitlock that his diabetes can occasionally blur his vision. He won through to the semi-finals, but was beaten 11–6 by Van Gerwen who threw a nine darter during the game. The pair also met in the next televised event the Masters, in a first round match which went to a deciding leg with Van Gerwen leaving 32 after nine darts and edging Van Barneveld 10–9. He lost to newcomer Keegan Brown 10–7 in the last 16 of the Grand Slam and was drawn to face Van Gerwen in the first round again this time at the Players Championship Finals where he was defeated 6–2. 2015 season Van Barneveld decided not to wear his glasses in the first round of the 2015 World Championship and took out finishes of 167 and 170 in beating Rowby-John Rodriguez 3–0. He was then involved in three successive matches in which there was never more than a set between Van Barneveld and his opponent as he edged past Jamie Caven 4–3, Adrian Lewis 4–3 (despite Lewis hitting a 9-darter and missing one match dart) and Stephen Bunting 5–4. In the Bunting match he returned from a break after the fourth set with his glasses on explaining afterwards that the board was looking blurry. Van Barneveld looked to have got himself back into his semi-final meeting with Phil Taylor when he recovered from 2–0 down to draw level, but his lengthy previous matches seemed to take effect as he could not win another set to be defeated 6–2. At the Masters he knocked out newly crowned world champion Gary Anderson 11–6 in the semi-finals, but was beaten by a reversal of this scoreline against