LITTLER RESPONDS TO HUMPHRIES’ GREATEST EVER CLAIM

LUKE LITTLER maintains that Phil Taylor’s place at the top of darts is untouchable.

World No.1 Littler sealed the Winmau World Masters to move one away from a clean sweep of all PDC Premier events at 19-years-old.

‘The Nuke’ toppled Luke Humphries in the final for the crown and received the ultimate compliment from his beaten rival.

He said: “I think he’s the greatest dart player that has ever lived.

“I said to him at the end: I don’t even think you have a heart! He never folds under pressure. You try your hardest to put him under it and he just never folds.”

But Littler refuses to label himself as the greatest-ever in the sport with Taylor having amassed 16 World titles in his incredible reign.

He added: “I didn’t hear him say that. I heard the crowd cheer a few times when he was talking, but I couldn’t hear him.

“But no one will ever beat Phil. I won’t be the greatest ever unless I do win more than what Phil won.”

Littler is well on course to challenge Taylor’s records and is relishing the prospect of continuing his battles with Humphries throughout the year.

Humphries showed signs of returning to top form at the Masters, falling just short as attention now turns to the Premier League, which begins on Thursday.

Littler said: “Every day is a new day. You’ve always got to dig deep, and that’s what I’ve done tonight. I don’t know where it came from, but I found it once again when I needed it.

“Luke should go off stage happy with his own performance. I just got the better of him in that last set, but he will bounce back and the Premier League is coming up and you’re going to see performances week in, week out from all of us.

“The practice pays off. The support from the managers, the sponsors and of course the family. It means a lot.”

The Warrington whizkid is now eyeing the European Championship to complete his glittering trophy cabinet.

He continued: “That’s obviously the main goal for this year, but another goal is to go and get the Premier League trophy back.

“I’m looking forward to the European Tours as well, obviously the one in Belgium which I’ve won back-to-back. I want to go and do the hat-trick there.

“We can’t look too far ahead. We can only look at next week for the Premier League.

“Obviously you always want to win everything. You always want to go to tournaments and win, but it’s down to anyone.

“Anyone can win on their day. If it’s your day, it’s your day. If it’s not, it’s not.”

Image by Taylor Lanning.