Luke Humphries has told furious trolls to “get off” after branding him darts’ “worst world champion” after an extraordinary defeat.
Cool Hand Luke bounced back from a 6-0 defeat by Ian White in the season-opening Players Championship floor tournament to reach the final of the Premier League in Glasgow 72 hours later.
And the world number one asked critics to judge him for his body of work rather than his outburst at drafty Wigan Tennis Center. Humphries averaged just 81 points against White. It was a grim parody of a player who went on a 20-game unbeaten run and won four majors on either side of the new year, including a crucial game at Alexandra Palace.
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Humphries said: “I got disqualified and was called the worst world champion, so I just wanted to come out and play well in Glasgow.”In the end, I was very unlucky not to win, but I I’m proud of the way he played.
“I’m not too frustrated with what happened on Monday. It’s disappointing that we lost, but you can’t win every game.”
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He said: “I understand the pressure of being world champion, but there are always going to be games where you lose, like the Ian White game on Monday. There are no excuses, I was pretty beaten up.
“But it can get tiring when everyone has your back. I probably overachieved at the end of last year and no one was expecting it, so if people have a little bit of I hope you don’t turn your back on me.
“It’s not just me, Luke.” [Littler] There’s a lot of pressure, so it’s tough when you’re relatively new to it.
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“I don’t feel like I have a target on my back, but every time you lose a match, suddenly everyone is against you and everyone thinks you’re going to fall by the wayside.
“You don’t always play well. I’ve played a lot of darts in the last four or five months and there have been a lot of ups and downs, but not many downs. To my status as world champion I’m still learning that there’s a lot of pressure, but I’m learning how to deal with it.”