An audience of more than three million tuned in to watch Luke Littler hammer Michael van Gerwen to become world champion – but Luke Humphries wasn’t part of it. His interest in the tournament and reign as world champion ended in the fourth round as Peter Wright rolled back the years with a stunning 4-1 win, ending hopes of a 2024 final rematch against Littler in the semis. Cool Hand was naturally gutted by the loss but insists it didn’t detract from a memorable 12 months as the king of darts, which saw him win the World Matchplay and defend his Players Championship Finals crown.

“Of course I was disappointed,” he tells Mirror Sport. “But you can’t win it every time. I’ve hopefully got 20 more years in the sport and I’ve got plenty more opportunities winner another. “And if I never win another, I’ll always have that one time, which will go down in history. On reflection, 2024 was a great year for me. I was in five or six major finals. That World Championship didn’t detract from what was a great year.”.

He took the defeat in typically classy style before enjoying some family time and a spot of Call of Duty. Darts was strictly off the schedule for a few days. “I didn’t watch any of it,” says Humphries of the remainder of the World Championship. “My life had been all about darts in December and I just wanted to switch it off for a little bit. “I could actually wake up on the 31st and not think about darts for a change. I didn’t watch any of it, I just wanted to break away from it.”.

He didn’t even watch the final, although he kept abreast of developments from Ally Pally and wasn’t surprised to see Littler emerge victorious. GET INVOLVED! Who are you tipping to win the World Masters? Tell us in the comments section. “I was probably playing Call of Duty or something,” admits Humphries. “That’s something I like doing in my spare time. I checked on it every half-an-hour or so. When Luke went 4-0 up, I thought that was game over. He’s a bit like me, a great front-runner.

“When we get in front of people, we’re hard to peg back. I heard it wasn’t the most exciting final, but Luke did what he had to do. That’s the character he is.”. Aside from a couple of couple of new major tournament winners in Mike De Decker and Ritchie Edhouse, 2024 was the year of the Lukes. No other players came close to matching their levels of consistency. Humphries is expecting more of the sport’s big guns to step up in 2025, especially with prize money likely to shoot up in light of the bumper new TV deal between Sky and the PDC.

“The last two years have been one-sided,” reflects Humphries. “Me in 2023 and me and Luke in 2024. Can we do it again? Yeah, possibly. I could run away with it, Luke could run away with it. No one knows though. “There is a lot more incentive in darts now, with a lot more to play for with these new [TV] deals. The prize money is going to get bigger and there’s going to be a lot more pressure on certain moments.

“I think a lot more players are going to practice harder to try and reap the rewards. I’m expecting it to be a lot tougher this year for myself and Luke. We’ve got massive targets on our backs now. People want to beat us, and why wouldn’t they?”. One of Humphries’ big targets is to lift the Premier League trophy, one of the few majors he has yet to win. He only made his debut in the tournament last year, losing to Littler in the final in front of 14,000 fans at The O2.

The 17-week darting roadshow isn’t loved by every player but Humphries enjoyed his first taste of it. He says: “You’re away from home a lot and the travelling can be tough but it’s a cool thing to be involved in. No arguments from me, I loved playing in it. “I would really like to win it, it would match up with the Worlds and the Matchplay. Not many people have won all three in their careers. It’s a great field with a lot of class and talent. It would be really special to win it.”.