© PDC Europe / Jonas Hunold
Michael van Gerwen won his third Premier League evening in a row on Thursday. Along the way, the Dutch darts icon won against Luke Littler, the 17-year-old phenomenon. And Van Gerwen had something to say about this to the press afterwards.
Vincent Van GenechtenDarts follower
Yesterday at 10:22 PM
Van Gerwen had all the effort in the world to put The Nuke aside. Only in a decisive leg and with a beautiful finish of 90 did it work. Much to Littler’s frustration. He has won one match each time so far, but reaching the final was not yet an option for the teenager.
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However, Van Gerwen sees things going well with Littler, who is now third in the Premier League standings. If the pressure on his shoulders didn’t become too great, that is.
“He’s a young guy,” said the three-time world champion in response to yet another question about Littler. Van Gerwen obviously knows the tricks of the trade and was once portrayed as an emerging super talent. “The amount of pressure the press and everyone actually puts on his shoulders… It’s madness. You probably don’t know what this is about, because you’re just asking questions. As a player I know how that feels and I don’t think it’s fair for him. Let him do his thing and live his life. Okay, that just happens to famous people, but still. Just let him enjoy life. But if he puts on a shoe, picks up his arrows or sticks his finger up his nose, then it’s something. Just leave him alone.”
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Message understood. Meanwhile, Littler recently gave yet another interview, this time to The Times. It stated that if he wants to continue as darts icon Phil Taylor for as long as he does, he will only stop in 2065. But The Nuke clearly doesn’t feel like that, given his answer.
“I have actually been around for a long time, since I was a junior in the old British Darts Federation,” says Littler. “So I might play for another ten or fifteen years and then stop when I’ve had enough.”
That would mean that Littler would stop playing darts somewhere between the ages of 27 and 32. Imagine.