Revealed: How Luke Littler will spend his New Year’s Eve as the teenager prepares for quarter-final clash at the World Darts Championship
- Luke Littler was pushed all the way by Ryan Joyce in their last 16 match
- The 17-year-old will face the in-form Nathan Aspinall, who won his draw 4-0
Luke Littler will spend New Year’s Eve ‘chilling’ with his parents and playing his ‘little Nintendo Switch’ ahead of his World Cup quarter-final on Wednesday against friend and stablemate Nathan Aspinall.
The 17-year-old capped off his stunning 2024 by winning a seven-set thriller against Ryan Joyce on Monday and admitted that despite an incredible year that saw him win ten PDC titles, he misses the ‘freedom’ he played with at the Ally Pally final. year, when he reached the final as a 16-year-old.
‘Last year I felt more comfortable. No one really knew me, I played with absolute freedom,” Littler said.
‘I would probably say I miss that freedom, but it’s also good to have nerves. In the first match against Ryan it turned out that I was only human after all. To get through that match it was huge and the last two games were huge. I’ve played the last few games with a bit of freedom and an adrenaline boost.’
Asked if he feels any jealousy towards him on the track after amassing more than a million pounds in prize money in a year, Littler said: ‘I don’t know. Some players show it, but I saw Scott Williams’ interview where he got sponsorship opportunities thanks to me. It’s good to see what I’ve done. It’s definitely not in my face, but when I practice I can feel that tension and it just makes me laugh.”
With his fourth round clash against Joyce at three sets apiece, Littler delivered a great final set with an average of 111 to ensure he would be back at the Ally Pally in 2025 and he celebrated this at the end to let out a huge roar.
Luke Littler will ‘chill’ with his parents on New Year’s Eve ahead of his quarter-final match
Littler booked his place in the last eight on Monday after a narrow victory over Ryan Joyce
The 17-year-old will take on the in-form Nathan Aspinall on Wednesday, who won his draw 4-0
“I didn’t even realize the double 12 was in until Charlie (Corstorphine) called it in and then I thought, I’ll give it a go. Give it to me,” he said.
Littler revealed afterwards that he slept on Sunday and found out via Instagram at 2am that Luke Humphries, who beat him in the final last year, was eliminated by Peter Wright.
With Humphries out, Littler’s path to a second successive final has opened up and the tournament favorite insisted he would look to replicate the same plan as last year.
‘It would certainly suit me if I could get past Nathan. Of course, play, sleep, wake up and play again. And that’s what I like. I prefer not to have days off, because at the moment I don’t practice in between and I have to come here a little earlier to catch up on practice.’
When asked who is his biggest threat to becoming the youngest ever world champion, Littler replied: ‘Every player has to say that the biggest threat is the man in front of him. Mine is Nathan Aspinall and if I’m going to win it’s going to be Peter Wright or whoever he’s playing against (Stephen Bunting). But the main target is Nathan.”
And Littler insisted that ahead of his all-English quarter-final, which last takes place on New Year’s Day, both he and Aspinall will “keep to ourselves” and not speak to each other.
On the other side of the draw, three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen takes on Callan Rydz and Chris Dobey takes on 2021 champion Gerwyn Price, with all four quarter-finals taking place on New Year’s Day.