Humphries plays down media-fulled rivalry with Luke Littler ” A lot of media outlets paint a different picture but me and Luke Litter are fantastic friends”
Humphries plays down media-fulled rivalry with Luke Littler ” A lot of media outlets paint a different picture but me and Luke Litter are fantastic friends”
Luke Humphries said that he and Luke Littler have a weekly ritual where they share the Premier League Darts stage and converse before each night’s match. ‘Cool Hands Luke’ emerged victorious in Leeds, defeating Michael van Gerwen in the final for an emotional win at his home event.
Humphries changed his walk-on song to pay tribute to Leeds United, blasting Kaiser Chiefs’ ‘I Predict A Riot’ theme, which has become synonymous with the Championship football team’s promotion push and was immensely popular with the audience on Thursday.
Humphries, encouraged by the Yorkshire crowd, recorded his fourth nightly win of the season and might become the first player in competition history to win five in a single year.
Humphries destroyed any perception of enmity between himself and the adolescent phenom by defeating Van Gerwen in a decisive leg, putting one over on the Dutchman following his 6-1 semi-final victory over Littler.
“The support was amazing, and to go on and win, this probably ranks as one of my best experiences in darts. The crowd were absolutely fantastic. When you walk out there and you’ve got so many people wanting you to win, it is what dreams are made of. It was an incredible feeling, and to perform like I did when the pressure was on, I’m really proud of that.”
“I love him to be honest. I think Luke is fantastic,” Humphries explains. “I get on really well with him. A lot of media outlets paint a different picture but me and Luke Litter are fantastic friends. Every time we’re in the arena together we’ll have a little practice or have a little chat for 20 minutes and that’s just our thing. We are rivals, we want to beat each other but you’ll never get that negativity between us because we get on really well and that’s it.”
“He respects me and I respect him as an unbelievable talent up there, but the way he has dealt with himself this year has been absolutely amazing. His family should be very proud to be honest, because he has shown a lot of grit, a lot of determination and shown a lot of people that he deserves to be here.
“My dream would be to play him in the final because whoever won out of us two, I would be happy for him and if I won I am sure he would be happy for me.”
