Luke Humphries set to skip tournaments after Luke Littler humbling at Dutch Masters

Luke Humphries was beaten by Luke Littler in the quarter-finals of the Dutch Masters on Friday.

Luke Humphries was beaten by Luke Littler at the Dutch Masters on Friday (Image: GETTY)

Luke Humphries has revealed that he will ‘pick and choose’ the events he plays at this year after being beaten by Luke Littler in the last eight of the Dutch Masters. Humphries overcame his teenage rival in the World Darts Championship final earlier this month but was unable to prevent Littler from getting revenge on Friday night.

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Littler battled back from 4-2 down to claim a 6-5 victory over Humphries, condemning the newly-crowned world champion to a premature exit from the Dutch Masters. Speaking after the match, Humphries outlined his plan to manage his schedule carefully in order to avoid burning himself out ahead of the bigger tournaments further down the line.

“You’ve just got to try and improve one or two per cent if you can every year and keep getting better, because the pack keep getting better behind you, so once you reach the top you don’t ever want to leave it,” he said.

“It’s important for me to manage my calendar. I don’t want to over exuberate and work too hard. I feel like if if you’re playing absolutely everything, then you’ll burn yourself out and you won’t be able to perform in the most important tournaments. So for me, I’ll pick and choose in the best way.”

Humphries is now a four-time major champion after a stunning end to 2023, in which he established himself as the dominant force in darts and reached the top of the world rankings for the very first time.

“I wanted to win a major title and I did that,” he added. “Then, the next goal was to win a second one and when I did that I thought right, well now it’s the time to be world champion, and I did that with world number one coming with it 24 hours before. Everything happened in such a short space of time.

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“I’m still getting used to the fact I’ve got all these accolades to my name. I’ve just got to stay in the right frame mind to stay motivated and determined to keep on winning.”

Littler, meanwhile, will be hoping to claim another big win over Humphries when they do battle on the opening night of the Premier League in Cardiff next week. The teenage superstar made it to the final of the Dutch Masters but was beaten by Michael van Gerwen, just a few days after overcoming the 34-year-old in Bahrain.