LITTLER TELLS RIVALS TO START TURNING UP

LUKE LITTLER warns the chasing pack they need to “start turning up” if they want to stop himself and Luke Humphries from dominating the sport.

Teen sensation Littler has already beaten ‘Cool Hand’ in back-to-back major finals, including this month’s Grand Slam, and believes the duo are on course to collide once again at Ally Pally.

World No1 Littler has stormed ahead as darts’ top dog in 2025 and insists he’s only getting better as he aims to defend his world crown and pull even further clear of his rivals.

Littler reckons the rest of the field simply can’t keep up with the standards he and Humphries are setting at the business end of major tournaments.

He said: “I’m ready for it. I think we’ve been fighting war with each other for the past two years and it’s only going to continue.

“We’re only going to get better and we’re only going to produce even more.

“There’s still many more years left in me and Luke.

“If no one’s going to stop us, then we’re going to continue meeting in these finals.

“These players obviously need to start turning up because everyone on social media doesn’t like seeing me and Luke.

“But we bring the best out of each other and we always put on a show for the fans.”

Eight-time major winner Humphries, demoted to world No2 after Littler’s surge, says losing his top spot could give him the spark he needs in the run-in to the Worlds.

He added: “When you’re playing for something it gives that little bit of an extra push, and I do feel like it did help me a little bit.

“I’ve lost three finals on the trot. I want to make a fourth one and not lose it.

“It’s important that, even though I’m not winning, I’m still feeling good coming back from these tournaments, playing well. It gives me that extra push to go into the Worlds.

“Obviously that World Championship is what I desperately want.

“Hopefully I can reclaim what I had once two years ago.

“This World Championship is all about trying to be world champion again and put my name in that legacy of being, I think, only the sixth or seventh player to win it more than once.

“I just believe in myself. My spirits are still high, I’m playing some good darts and there’s still two majors to go and importantly that World Championship as well, which is the one I really want to win.

“I believe again. I did two years ago when I won it, that confidence is there.”

Warrington whizkid Littler, though, is eyeing history — aiming to become the first back-to-back world champion in a decade since Gary Anderson.

He continued: “Defending the Grand Slam, definitely I know myself I can defend a title now, but it’s the Worlds, there’s 32 more players, it’s a longer tournament – I’m looking forward to it.

“Defending the Grand Slam, it shows I know I can defend a title.

“But it’s the Worlds, there’s 32 more players, it’s a longer tournament – I’m looking forward to it.

“Definitely going to be some nerves coming in as reigning champion and world No1 but I’m up for the task. The players are getting better and better. Hopefully I can close it down and go back to back.”

Image by Taylor Lanning.