LITTLER LUCKY TO AVOID ROW OVER SHOWBOATING
27/11/2025 By Aaron Nijjar
VINCENT VAN DER VOORT believes Luke Littler would have landed himself in trouble for his showmanship had he done it years ago.
World No1 Littler has lifted SIX major titles this season and is heading to Ally Pally as the defending World Champion.
‘The Nuke’ caused a stir when he finished 121 with bull, treble seven, bull against Ricardo Pietreczko over the weekend at the Players Championship Finals.
The shot came moments after a remark from the German, with Littler going on to seal a 10–6 victory.
Teen sensation Littler explained: “If you try and get in my head I’ll just do what I do and then I’ll bring out the showboats.”
Former pro Van der Voort reckons had Littler attempted such a thing back when Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen both dominated; he would have sparked a row.
He said: “Bizarrely beautiful, wasn’t it?
“In the past, he would’ve ended up in a row over that, trying to humiliate someone like that.
“But nowadays things are a bit more relaxed. We thought that after the Taylor and Van Gerwen eras nobody could dominate like that again.
“We simply couldn’t imagine it. But here we are – we’ve got someone. Littler is a problem for everyone.
“That was definitely intentional. He certainly hasn’t become more cautious after last time.
“He toys with his opponents and with the game itself. He just does whatever comes into his head, and he gets away with it too.
“You see it in his opponents – they just can’t apply real pressure. Nobody has the answer.
“He’s giving everyone homework for the coming weeks. Right now, Luke Humphries looks like the only one who might be able to beat him over a longer format.”
Littler faces Darius Labanauskas in round one of the World Championship on December 11.
Image by Taylor Lanning.
