Luke Humphries has hit back at James Wade’s claims he and fellow darts ace Luke Littler are “lazy”.
Humphries has looked back to his imperious best during this weekend’s World Masters, dropping just one set across his two matches so far.
A quarter-final against Damon Heta awaits the world No.1, but Humphries was put on alert when Wade, who was dumped out of the competition by Littler on Saturday night, called out his training methods.
Wade said: “I don’t believe anyone is amazing apart from the Luke [Littler] and the Luke [Humphries].
“And after that, they could be quite lazy, they’re not Phil Taylors they’re not Michael van Gerwens at their best.”
But it’s a shout Humphries immediately rejected, claiming there isn’t a darts player on Tour that “works harder” than him.
The 2024 world champion stated: “I’m searching for something better.
“I’m really happy with my performances over the last 18 months, I’ve been really good, but if you’re going to keep up you’ve got to get better and I want to set the standard.
“There’s no player that works harder than me. Yesterday, I was the only player here practicing because I want to be performing at the highest level.
“I want to challenge Luke [Littler], Michael [van Gerwen and Gezzy [Gerwyn Price], I don’t want it to phase out and not to aspire to something great.
“I’m working incredibly hard and that’s all I care about. If it doesn’t work out for me then so be it.
“But all I can tell myself is I’m working hard from the ability I’ve got and I’m just trying to find something that can make me even better and challenge everybody.”
It was a firm assessment of his game and a clear rejection of Wade’s comments.
Conversely, Littler, who was the other player Wade labelled “lazy” didn’t see anything wrong with the comments, in fact, the reigning world champion agreed with his sentiment.
Speaking after he dumped the Machine out of the Masters, Littler admitted: “I didn’t see it [the claim]. But he’s right, I am lazy in the practice room as well.
“I don’t have to practice for hours and hours while in the practice room. You know yourself as a player when you’ve practiced for that long you’re warmed up and ready to go.”
The World Masters action from Milton Keynes resumes on Sunday afternoon.