Some of Luke Littler’s darting rivals are scared of him and act like “fanboys instead of opponents”. The 18-year-old, who is the reigning world champion and No.2 on the planet behind Luke Humphries, added another major piece of silverware to his collection as he won the World Grand Prix in Leicester earlier this month.
Littler romped past Gian van Veen, Mike De Decker, Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton before beating Cool Hand Humphries in the final and taking a giant leap to becoming world No.1. But Vincent van der Voort, never one to shy away from speaking his mind, believes that some of Littler’s rivals are afraid to beat him.
‘The Dutch Destroyer’ did highlight that the standard of darts right now is “incredibly high’ and the sport is in a “good place overall”, but warned that there could be a repeating trend following eras that saw Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen dominate.
He told Online Darts: “Not everyone’s scared of him, but plenty are. I said it after the Worlds – too many top players act like fanboys instead of opponents. Of course, it’s tough; Littler’s so good.
“But you have to tell yourself: Yes, he’s brilliant, but I’m going to do everything I can to beat him. Don’t keep sticking feathers in his backside…
“It happened before with Phil Taylor, and later with Michael van Gerwen. That’s what happens when you get a dominant player. But others still need to go out there and give everything they’ve got.
“[Gerwyn] Price should’ve beaten him at the Grand Prix but didn’t, and that only makes it harder the next time. Someone has to stop him eventually.”
Van der Voort continued: “It’s impressive how often he wins, but darts is better when there’s competition.
“The rest of the players need to get inside his head a bit, unsettle him, do something different. Otherwise, he’s just going to run away with everything.”
Van der Voort added that he can see similarities between Littler and Van Gerwen. Before Littler entered the fray, Van Gerwen was the youngest ever world champion, aged 24.
“As long as you keep winning, confidence takes care of itself,” he finished. I saw that with Michael first-hand. His belief was so high he didn’t even think about opponents.
“Every game was just another chance to beat someone. Littler’s in that phase now. Eventually he’ll hit some setbacks – then we’ll see how mentally strong he really is.
“But right now, you have to play unbelievably well to beat him.”