Luke Humphries was unfazed by the near end of his world title run, far from it, quickly putting the Alexandra Palace defeat behind him and setting new goals.
Cool Hand brilliantly won his first world title in January 2024, before making a surprise return in the last 16 a year later at the hands of Peter Wright.
With the defending champions eliminated from the tournament, Luke Littler went on to lift the Sid Waddell Cup by defeating Michael van Gerwen in the final.
It would be futile to pretend the defeat wasn’t painful, but the world number one says it wasn’t difficult to get through because he sees no other option. There were more arrows to throw and more trophies to win, and it was time to move on immediately.
You had a wonderful New Year. “A lot of people were worried that the World Series would depress me, but it didn’t,” Humphries said. subway. You accepted defeat, which is what you have to do. Obviously losing is devastating but the next day I woke up and was fine.
‘I don’t feel like it hurts anymore [than other defeats]. I’m a pretty chill guy, to be honest. If it goes, it goes, and if it doesn’t go, it doesn’t go. That’s why you see me react so well to defeat.
“There’s nothing you can do to change it.” It’s not like I missed six or seven darts to win the match. I was the second best player in that match. You just have to accept that you lost.
He added: “Of course you understand the magnitude of the matter and I am no longer a world champion, but I will always remain a world champion. This is the most important thing in my mind.” I have achieved this dream that everyone wants in their sport, and I hope I can achieve it again in the future.
The 29-year-old looks at the long game, looking ahead to the 20 years ahead of him in his career and knowing that remaining champion of anything for two decades is impossible.
“I don’t think it’s too dramatic.” “You’re world champion and then you’re not,” he said. “It’s not something I’m going to lie in bed for two weeks and feel uncomfortable about.”
“I’m still the world champion but I’m not the champion anymore.” It happened at the Grand Slam, the Grand Prix. I can’t be a 20-time world champion and retire, it was always going to happen, so you have to accept it when it happens.
“If I’m lucky, I can win two or three more world championships in another 20 years of my career, so 17 out of 20 times I’ll get beaten, but that’s just something you have to accept and it’s very easy for someone to take.” gay.
“This is not what I want!” Of course I felt very sad about the loss, but I got over it very quickly. The sooner you accept it, the faster you can move on.
Humphreys has achieved a string of major titles since the second half of 2023 and intends to keep doing so, while keeping his goals realistic.
“It’s hard to set goals for yourself when you’ve achieved so much,” he said. “Three Grand Slams last year and four the year before that, if I start setting five goals for myself, you’re putting a lot of pressure on yourself.
“Realistically, I’m trying to win one or two majors a year. It’s more than realistic, it’s fair and there’s not a lot of pressure. If I win one major a year for the next 20 years, that puts me at over 25. If I leave my career In 25 majors I would be very happy!’
Regarding a specific goal, he added: “The English Premier League would be the goal, if I had a goal.” I said last year that I wanted to win the World Cup and the World Cup and I did. My goal this year, if I were to say a goal, would be the Premier League.
Humphries’ consistency over 18 months has been such that he remains world number one despite Littler becoming world champion, but does he consider himself the best player on the planet yet?
“It’s a tough question,” he said. “I feel like I’m still one of the best players in the world.
“The World Championship didn’t go my way and some people think I’m gone now, but I won one of the last two majors, I won the Players Championship a month and a half ago! People will write you off, they wrote me off after the Grand Slam and I immediately won the Players.
“It’s hard to say who is the best player. It would probably be Luke Littler now, but going back to last year Michael van Gerwen was the best player in the world for the first 2-3 months, then it was me for 2-3 months, then Luke, then me again.” Then Luke cuts off again and changes.
“Luke and I are at the top at the moment but there are a group of players below us who can definitely catch up.”
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