Luke Littler sets sights on Luke Humphries' spot after World Matchplay triumph

Daily Mirror

5 days ago

Luke Littler is the youngest triple crown champion in darts after beating James Wade in the World Matchplay final and now wants to end the year as the sport's undisputed No 1
Luke Littler has his eye on ending the year as No.1 in the charts and defending his darts world title at Alexandra Palace as top dog by every measurement.
‌
After another spellbinding display to win the World Matchplay crown, despite giving James Wade a five-leg head start in the final, Luke the Nuke is on course to top the rankings in the Professional Darts Corporation order of merit before the end of 2025.
‌
At 18, Littler is by far the youngest player to win the triple crown - World Championship, Premier League and World Matchplay - and he admits current world No.1 Luke Humphries' perch is now within his sights.
‌
But Littler is already the de facto No.1 in all but name.
He is the teenage whirlwind responsible for an explosion in prize money, TV rankings, replica shirt and darts sales and participation at grass roots level.
His Nukeship is the man to beat at every tournament - and at the Winter Gardens he gave the punters value for money, scrapping through 13-11 against Jermaine Wattimena, 16-14 against Andrew Gilding and 17-14 against Josh Rock before his 18-13 comeback win saw off Wade.
Littler nodded: 'I've looked at the rankings provisionally. I'm No.1 for the Worlds if Luke doesn't defend all that prize money - and obviously I don't want him to.
'But we'll just have to find out and try to add more prize money to my ranking. For now, I'm the youngest winner of another major title. At the start of my career I wanted to win one of every major - there's not that many to go now.
‌
'It was in the back of my mind that I hadn't won a trophy for a while every tournament I went into and didn't win, whether that was a European Tour or a ProTour event.
'But now I've picked up another one it's a good feeling and hopefully there will be a few more towards the back of the year. I want to win every major once and then just build on it - get multiple of everything, triple of everything. Once I win one of everything, I won't pack it in.'
Among Littler's greatest hits at Blackpool was his tournament record 64 maximum 180s, blowing Adrian Lewis's previous apex of 56 out of the water.
‌
He said: 'I played a lot of legs throughout the Matchplay so it's no surprise that I've broken the 180 record.'
Littler will take a week off before heading to Australia for the World Series early next month. The next major where he could make a dent in Humphries' lead at the rankings summit is the World Grand Prix in Leicester from October 6-12.
He will begin his defence of the world title at Ally Pally, chasing the first £1 million winner's jackpot in darts, on December 11.
PDC ORDER OF MERIT: CURRENT RANKINGS
Luke Humphries £1,797,750
Luke Littler £1,500,500
Michael van Gerwen £739,750
Stephen Bunting £620,500
James Wade £611,750
Gerwyn Price £533,000
Chis Dobey £520,500
Jonny Clayton £513,750
Rob Cross £505,500
Damon Heta £486,250