HONEST HUMPHRIES ADMITS PRACTICE NEGLECT LED TO DIP IN FORM

LUKE HUMPHRIES admits “neglecting” practice since his Premier League triumph has contributed to a recent dip in form. 

World No. 1 Humphries secured a 6-3 victory against Jonny Tata to setup a clash with Mike De Decker in the quarter-final of the Australian Darts Masters. 

Eight-time major winner Humphries found himself 2-0 down in the match but reeled off two consecutive 13-darters to level the affair and pearled in a 76 checkout to take the lead. 

‘Cool Hand’ took out a composed 68 outshout to extend his advantage to 5-3 before sealing the win by smashing in double five. 

Cheshire thrower Humphries revealed his performances have dipped in recent times due to a lack of proper preparation.  

He said: “I’ve been on holiday and stuff, a lot of other things have been on my mind. 

“When I lost [at Matchplay], I was obviously disappointed to lose, but of course there is positives in a loss, and I get to spend more time with my family.  

“Of course, I’d love to win everything, but when you don’t, there is positives in there. 

“I’m just going to enjoy these, have a bit of fun with my dad. 

“It’s been hard for my dad recently. He’s been going through a lot with other things that everyone will find out about soon. 

“But it’s not been easy for him, so it’s nice to come over here and have a bit of time out. I’m on holiday straight away after I come back from New Zealand for 10 days.” 

He added: “As soon as I come back from that holiday, I think the next one I have after that is the Czech Darts Masters. that’s when I’ll be on it.  

“I’ll start practising harder again because I have neglected it, I’ll be honest. Since the Premier League, to be honest. 

“I think when you’re in the Premier League, you’re playing all the time, you don’t neglect it, you’re on the ball. 

“But since that Premier League, I’ve just not had the mindset to want to practise a lot. 

“That’s my fault. That’s me being guilty. It’s not been one of the things I’ve done many, many years of my life.” 

Humphries is determined to have a strong end to the year as he defends huge amounts of prize money at the upcoming majors. 

He explained: “Usually, I’m quite consistent with practising, but I’ve been guilty of it.  

“When I come back from that holiday, I’ll be back on it and really have that energy in charge to try and have a good back end to the end. If I win both events, it’s not going to change anything.  

“When I come back from the holiday and I’ve finally had a good rest and a good enjoyment with my family then I can come back and defend the Grand Prix, Grand Slam, the Players’ Championships, the World’s. 

“I’ve got all this to defend so I have an ambition in my mind to want to try hard and practise hard. I’ve not been putting the effort in. 

“It’s not an excuse. It’s my own fault. If I was sharp, I would have probably been a lot more better in the Matchplay. 

“Again, it’s only one person to blame. It’s myself. It’s not like I regret it. 

“It’s just sometimes you get found guilty of not battling hard and working hard. I say it all the time, when I won the Masters, I said I was going to practise harder than ever and I didn’t.”

Images by Taylor Lanning.