Wayne Mardle says it’s as much as gamers to rise to the problem and get “stuck into Luke Littler” after ‘The Nuke’ cemented his place as one of many greats of the game.
Littler overcame the Ally Pally wasp to thrash Gian van Veen and win back-to-back World Championship titles on Saturday night time.
The 18-year-old joins Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson in profitable successive crowns and he’s the brand new king of Alexandra Palace.
Littler burst onto the scene with an epic debut run to the ultimate two years in the past and has not misplaced on that stage since after a masterful 7-1 win over Van Veen, which earned him a file £1m prize cheque.
With a mean of virtually 106, 15 maximums and a ‘Huge Fish’ 170 checkout, this was one of many nice last performances.
Talking to Sky Sports activities, Mardle stated: “Luke Littler has confirmed time and time once more that he can play higher for longer than anybody and that is what it’s.
“Thirty-one legs have been performed, he gained 23 of them. It was the restricted probabilities that he gave Van Veen.
“We think he will win more and more.
“There’s nothing he cannot do on a dartboard however we’re attending to the purpose the place it is about Luke.
“Like when Phil Taylor played well, he won. When Michael van Gerwen played well, he won. It’s about Luke Littler at the moment.
“The format would not matter. He is simply the perfect. Have a look at what number of headstarts he gave everybody on the World Matchplay. He is probably the most dependable and if there is a lengthy format occasion like this, good luck with that.
“Luke just keeps setting himself new challenges. It’s up to the other players to get better, but it’s some standard.
“We have now some high quality gamers proper now however they need to rise and get caught into Luke Littler.”
Has Littler peaked too early?
The darting phenom underlined his standing as a generational expertise within the sport.
He has been a tour de power over the past 12 months, profitable 5 of the final six main tournaments, and appears set for an era-defining interval of domination just like what ‘The Energy’ Taylor loved.
“When Adrian Lewis won back to back in 2011 and 2012 you think he’s going to win another three, four, five. You don’t know when the end is coming. You don’t know when all this stops,” stated Mardle.
“Phil Taylor won his last world championship in 2013. He was still world No 2 in 2016.
“That is the factor about skilled sport. He could have peaked – I do not suppose so! Have a look at Gary Anderson in 2015 and 2016 – ‘Oh Gary, you are not going to win one other one!’.
“You look at Raymond van Barneveld in 2007. ‘Ray, you’re not going to win any more pal!’ – ‘Of course I am’.
“You simply by no means know, which is why that is so particular.
“I think this is what Luke Littler does. All the standards he produces are similar. He normally averages 103, 104, 105 for events.
“In fact the odd sport creeps in with the odd 97 or 98 however then the odd 110 does to counterbalance that. That is his normal and folks have to enhance. I do not see him regressing.”
Van Veen is reaching a lot already!
Van Veen was upset he was unable to provide Littler an actual sport however former Lakeside champion Mark Webster believes “this is just the start” for the brand new Dutch No 1.
“He will be disappointed but he’s played some good stuff,” stated Webster.
“He hadn’t won a game at Alexandra Palace in his previous two attempts here and now got to the final.
“He is reaching a lot. He can be enjoying much more darts this 12 months so there are completely different challenges for him as a result of you need to handle the schedule as a result of he is a hungry participant and can relish it.”
Who will win this year’s Premier League Darts? Luke Humphries will be defending his title and you can watch the action every single Thursday from February until May on Sky Sports. Stream darts and extra high sport with NOW.

