- Luke Littler made a winning start at the World Championship on Saturday night
- He was moved to tears in his TV interview after his opening victory
Luke Littler broke down in tears during his televised interview on the Alexandra Palace stage after overcoming Ryan Meikle to secure his first victory of this year’s World Darts Championship.
Littler was unable to conduct the live chat on Sky Sports after a challenging match in which he was made to work to win 3-1. In the fourth and final set, the 17-year-old phenomenon from Warrington averaged a record-breaking 140.91, with two 11-darters and one 10-darter seeing him through to the third round, much to the delight of the Ally Pally faithful.
Littler was the width of a wire away from a nine-darter as his arrow narrowly dipped below double 12 in that final set, and we were given a glimpse into the pressure being placed on the teenager in his post-match interview, showing his emotions after surviving this scare.
‘It’s the worst game I’ve played,’ Littler said later. ‘I’ve never felt anything like that tonight. It was a weird feeling. It’s the biggest stage out there, the last tournament of the calendar year, and I had to somehow get over the line and I’m happy I did.
‘I shouldn’t have won that first set but I did and then you have to switch on from there. That last set, I don’t know where I pulled it from. I drank my water, said to Abi (Davies, his interviewer on stage) I was OK, then as soon as the question came, boom, tears.
‘I was like, ‘What are you doing?’ It was just a bit too much to try to speak on stage after that.
Luke Littler could not hold back the tears after winning at Alexandra Palace on Saturday night
Littler hugged his parents after the match on an emotional night for the Littler family
Littler’s tears came moments after he just missed out on a nine-darter in the final set of his match with Ryan Meikle
‘Leading up to it, I was fine, the train journey down, practice was going well, even practising on the stage was unbelievable. It was as soon as I heard ‘game on’, my bottom went again. I’m thinking, ‘What are you doing? Just relax.’ That last set, I found it.’
Thousands of darts fans descended on Alexandra Palace to indulge in Littlermania.
There was a five-time world champion in Raymond van Barneveld playing immediately before Littler – he was shocked 3-1 by Nick Kenny of Wales – but the 57-year-old Dutchman was not the reason a ticket to Ally Pally represented the hottest in town on Saturday night.
As the lads dressed up as a full English breakfast were singing as they waddled into the arena – led by a tin of baked beans – everyone was here to do some ‘walking in a Littler wonderland’.
Meikle, the 28-year-old Englishman ranked 62 in the world and nicknamed ‘The Barber’ owing to his other profession, stood in his way. Meikle is a slow player, sometimes frustratingly so, but then it was important that he played this match at his own tempo.
Littler was the overwhelming favourite to win. Last year saw him become the youngest player to reach a PDC World Championship final at 16 years and 347 days. Now, he has 10 PDC titles to his name, four nine-darters, and more than £1million won in prize money.
It was Meikle who started the strongest, however. Littler came back, throwing five perfect darts but missing with the sixth in two separate legs, drawing those jokey jeers from a crowd desperate to see him throw perfection.
Littler secured the first set with tops tops. After landing those two darts in double 20, he did his best impression of Jose Mourinho by telling the spectators to relax because he had this.
Yet Meikle proved no pushover as he stormed into the lead in the second set and saw it through for 1-1 to show there were two competitors involved in this clash.
Normal service resumed in the third set, Littler wrapping it up with an arrow into double 10. In the fourth set, only double 12 denied him the nine-darter, but he finished with an astounding 140.91 average – practically darts from the Gods – before showing his emotions at the end.
