Following Luke Littler’s early elimination from the World Matchplay in Blackpool following his defeat by Michael van Gerwen, James Wade gave his honest assessment of the teenager.
James Wade believes Luke Littler, who was eliminated early from this week’s World Matchplay, will “either dominate for two years or dominate for a decade or more”.
The teenage sensation faced Michael van Gerwen in his opening match in Blackpool this week, losing 10-6 to the Dutchman – a shocking reality check for Littler, who has won ranking events every month in 2024 but has far underperformed.
“I’m embarrassed,” he wrote on social media shortly after the post, before quickly deleting it.Little has been a mainstay in the darts world for less than a year, but his talent has seen him rise rapidly through the ranks.
Wade, 17, has already achieved notable accolades but is prepared to withstand the decline and insists the question is whether he wants to dominate for a decade or more or simply be at the top of the sport for a short period of time.
“I think Glenn Durant is the one who made the decision,” Wade told Sportsboom.com. [Luke Littler] Either he will rule for just two years, or he will rule for 10 years or more. I don’t know which it will be, but I actually agree with it.
“To be honest with you, Luke has probably made more money in his lifetime than most darts players, or even all darts players, so he doesn’t need to play darts right now.”
“He’s influential, he’s financially capable, he has a lot of traction. But I’m interested to see what he does. He’s going to have a downturn, and that’s going to happen 100 percent. [Luke Littler] He will have struggles, he will have difficulties, and you will find out what he really thinks.”
Wade himself claimed victory on Tuesday night, beating Nathan Aspinall in the round of 16 to cruise to the final. The World Match Play is one of the sport’s triple crowns, but it will be out of Littler’s reach for at least another year.
The Warrington-born star has attracted a lot of attention since emerging at the World Championships last December and he has reaped the rewards as he has gained new fans, but after his frustrating defeat Wade will be hoping they will be rooting for him.
“I hope people will support him a little bit and not criticize him. If that happens, and I think that will happen,” he said.