Luke Littler has owned his frequent lateness after Michael van Gerwen condemned the 18-year-old’s poor timekeeping earlier this month. The Nuke has now been described by himself and others as the most unpunctual on the PDC Pro Tour.
Since taking the world of darts by storm, much has been made of teenage sensation Littler’s lax attitude. While James Wade has taken aim at his lack of practice, Van Gerwen has been critical of ‘The Nuke’ often being late to events.
Earlier in February, Littler was nowhere to be seen when his Premier League media duties rolled around, inciting a lighthearted jibe from the on-time ‘Green Machine’. But, the teenager hasn’t shied away from such criticism and wore his heart on his sleeve when owning this flaw.
Before the opening Premier League night in Belfast, Littler was pencilled in to clash with ‘Mighty Mike’, whom he downed 7-3 in the Ally Pally showpiece at the start of the year.
However, while the Dutchman and other stars arrived on time for a press conference on Wednesday, ‘The Nuke’ did not, and Van Gerwen didn’t hide his feelings when reporters questioned him about his rival turning up 25 minutes late.
“45 minutes late, you mean,” retorted Van Gerwen when Littler’s absence was brought up. “They need to stop treating him as a baby, yeah? He’s not a baby any more. He’s 18 years old now. It happens. He has to learn, but he needs to learn the hard way.
“It’s a professional sport so you have to be responsible for your actions as well, simple as that. If he turns up late for an interview, I don’t really mind, but now seven other people are waiting for him. That’s not really nice, is it?”
Yet, instead of brushing aside these remarks, Littler, in a video posted to the Sky Sports Darts YouTube channel, made a swift and telling admission when asked who on the PDC tour turns up late the most.
Both Chris Dobey and Nathan Aspinall were quick to mention ‘The Nuke’ when the same question was asked. The teenager himself then uttered a brief but honourable, “person that’s always late? Me,” before bursting into laughter.
After the pre-tournament press conference debacle, Littler and Van Gerwen played out a thriller on the opening night of the new Premier League season in Belfast, with the Dutchman coming away a 6-5 winner in their quarter-final clash. Both players averaged over 105, with ‘The Nuke’ registering a staggering 113.91 average.
The competition then headed to Glasgow last week, and Littler tasted revenge. He battled back from being 5-1 down against Rob Cross to then face Van Gerwen and defeat his adversary 6-2 before winning the night outright, thwarting Luke Humphries 6-5.
