Tennis players do much the same without putting on weight! Seriously though, I realise it’s not the same at all but would have thought there would be time in their schedule to do a bit of work in the gym, at least get out for walks etc! Anyway, should be a cracking final now. I wonder if Littler benefits from his age in some ways - the fearlessness of youth. I mean, he’s clearly got the game to be do it, so does the other Luke, but he just doesn’t seem fazed by anything. I imagine Humphries is as good, but will he feel the pressure tomorrow in a way his opponent won’t?
I don't think Humphries will be fazed. He's won 3 majors in the last few months under pressure, including seeing off MvG in a close game in the players championship. Add to that the resilience he showed to come back from 3-1 down to the German guy, and then the sudden death win over Joe Cullen. He seems to thrive on it and is getting better every time he plays.
I would imagine tennis players, even possibly on the satellite tours, not only are better looked after in the sense that they'll have a team behind them tracking their every move (obviously!), but also will be on more money than your average darts player? Perhaps Humphries will be feeling it more, it's his first world final too, and he was the favourite going into the event, but he's much more seasoned in going far in events, and as has been noted, he's sort of in bonus territory considering he could easily have been dumped out twice. Think Humphries takes it 7-5
You only make money on the tour if you're top 75. That gains you entry to the big events, although not all,cut off probably closer to 60 for 500 events. Travel, accomodation,re strings,entry fees, coaching fees will mean players hardly break even. Too much money right hand side of the draw and not enough left hand side, speaking as someone who was off the page on the left side! I'd like the other chap to win.
Huh, that's a lot fewer full-time tennis pros than I thought considering how big the sport is! Must be a tough gig being a jobbing pro! The top 64 in darts, who guarantee themselves full access to the tour without having to go to the dreaded Q-School, all made over £80k in prize money over the course of the 2 year ranking period, which, minus various admin and travel fees (if you're European that'd be far less than in tennis I imagine, only the big names get picked to play in invitational events outside of Europe), plus sponsorship and perhaps money from exhibitions would mean most if not all of those top 64 earn their primary income through darts. Of course, a lot of them might have some kind of additional source of income to take the pressure off, even Jonny Clayton, a fixture in the top 16 for a good few years now earning significantly more than £40k a year, up until quite recently famously worked on and off as a plasterer in south Wales! No offense to Humphries, but I can't help being drawn into the fairytale rise of the 16 year old!
Good game! Been a lot of breaks of throw, but after 7 sets, the boy wonder is 4-3 up, the game going with throw
Humphries taking command, that missed D2 to put Littler 5-2 up looks like it might be crucial, 6-4 Humphries
Littler misses 3 darts to bring it back to 5-6 and Humphries wins 7-4 in an eerie nod to 2014 when MvG had darts to go 5-2 up against Taylor but lost by the same scoreline. No reason Littler can't have the same success in the near future though!
Media will go back to not being interested in darts . And probably trying to go through Littler’s personal life . Congratulations to Luke Humphries- a man on top his game for a while and well deserved title .
He won't. This was it. He's peaked. The rest of his life will be a diminishing return of trying to milk this zenith. 2035's Warrington Panto - Cinderella, with 2024 nearly world champion Luke Littler as Buttons! One can only imagine what he will look like in his late 20s.
You can see the Raderkanu comparisons, but I feel like darts is a lot ‘easier’ than tennis and far fewer moving parts to it, so to speak, for it to go as wrong for him from this position.
I hope you frash im mate! Carnt stand billyunaire politishuns pretendin to be ‘men ov the people’. Interested in darts? Pull the other one mate.
Massively derailing the thread here, but his desperate attempts to come across as a working class man of the people are sickening:
I mean, going by what I see most weeks at games, YouTube and Tiktok there seem to be plenty of working class weirdos who go to the football and record themselves or their mates 'reacting' to everything. So maybe for once Rishi's just a man of the people?
Tennis is the hardest sport I believe. Darts is a game,a very skilful game but a sending skill only,no reception skills needed,other than accepting the cheque!
Yes, not to diminish darts as a sport as the top level of any sport is obviously massively difficult to attain, and done so by only a fraction of the population, but at the very least in darts you can’t be outmuscled as one example, which is one dynamic off the table in terms of an area you can lose ground or fall back on.
