"When we first went to Rotterdam for the first time, that took my breath away, so maybe Berlin will as well"
Wednesday 21 February 2018 20:10, UK
Night four of the all-new Premier League hits brilliant Berlin for the first time and Wayne 'Hawaii 501' Mardle says it's bound to take his breath away.
The five ties on the night in Germany will include reigning Premier League champion Michael van Gerwen meeting World Grand Prix champion Daryl Gurney.
World Champion Rob Cross plays Raymond van Barneveld, UK Open champion Peter Wright plays two-time Premier League winner Gary Anderson, Champions League of Darts winner Mensur Suljovic faces Gerwyn Price and Michael Smith takes on 'The Wizard' Simon Whitlock.
The Mercedes-Benz Arena will be buzzing with excitement with over 10,000 fans set to make quite an atmosphere and Mardle expects hairs to be standing up on the back of his neck when the tungsten action gets going.
We want cities competing against each other to prove that they're the best fans and why not? Bring on Berlin.
"I'm looking forward to it. It's somewhere new," said the Sky Sports analyst. "When we first went to Rotterdam for the first time, that took my breath away, so maybe Berlin will as well.
"I think it's going to be noisy and I think it's going to be similar to Rotterdam. I'm not too sure how many people it holds, but with the way that the European Tour goes when they play at weekends, they're normally kind of noisy and atmospheric, so I think it will be kind of the same.
"Berlin will want to prove that it should have been there before, so they're going to try and give it the 'you know what, this is the best city to bring darts and this is why'.
"We want cities competing against each other to prove that they're the best fans and why not? Bring on Berlin."
Mardle feels the popularity of the sport is reaching an all-time high in Germany, but the country is just lacking a darting superstar.
"It's basically Holland in the late 90s - that's what it is. We're doing more exhibitions, corporate days and demonstrations than we've ever done before. What they badly need is an absolute darting superstar from their own country," added Mardle.
"We thought it was going to be Max Hopp, but it turns out that so far it isn't the case, but maybe there will be another one around the corner."
The 2018 Premier League heads to the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin on Thursday evening with coverage underway from 7pm on Sky Sports Action, Main Event, and Mix. Twelve weeks of tungsten action will then continue through to the season's conclusion with the Play-Offs on May 17 at The O2 in London.
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