Is Luke Littler Destined To Win The 2025 PDC World Darts Championship?

Is Luke Littler Destined To Win The 2025 PDC World Darts Championship?

Alex Moss |

Can Luke Littler Go One Better At Ally Pally?

He lit up the world of darts with his run to the final on debut, now Luke Littler is set to return to Alexandra Palace for the upcoming PDC World Darts Championship as the favourite to go all the way. The 17-year-old has been installed as the 2/1 favourite with the tournament’s title sponsors Paddy Power, following his triumph at the Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton last night.

‘The Nuke’ thrashed first-time finalist Martin Lukeman 16-3 in Sunday night’s final in, averaging 107 and hitting 12 180s in a dominant display that has seen him climb up to number five on the PDC Order of Merit.

The last two winners of the Grand Slam, Michael Smith and Luke Humphries, have both gone on to claim glory at the World Championship six weeks later. Will Littler now follow in the footsteps of Smith and Humphries and claim the biggest trophy of all at Ally Pally on January 3, 2025?

‘Unbeatable’ Littler’s record-breaking Grand Slam campaign

“I feel unbeatable in myself” quipped Luke Littler just moments after completing a 16-2 demolition of Jermaine Wattimena on Saturday night. The teenage star took just 28 minutes to beat the recent European Championship finalist and book his place in the final day of the Grand Slam of Darts.

Seven days earlier, Littler had kicked off his debut Grand Slam campaign in style. ‘The Nuke’ averaged 112 as he whitewashed Keane Barry 5-0 in an opening group match that lasted only six minutes. Ton-topping averages helped him see off the challenges of Dimitri Van den Bergh (5-1) and Lourence Ilagan (5-3), as he qualified through Group F with a perfect three wins from three.

A high-quality clash in the last 16 saw Littler produce a remarkable comeback to defeat the World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker 10-9 on Thursday night. De Decker had led the contest 8-4, before ‘The Nuke’ fought back by winning six of the last seven legs, and surviving a match dart at the bull, to advance to the final weekend.

A 16-2 victory against Wattimena on Saturday set up a mouth-watering first-ever meeting with Gary Anderson in the semi-finals. The match did not disappoint with the two stars lighting up the WV Active Aldersley stage in a 31-leg epic that went back and forth. Anderson reeled off seven straight legs to go 11-7 up from 7-4 down, before an inspired Littler rallied to edge through 16-15 with the aid of 16 maximums.

After dismantling Lukeman 16-3 in Sunday night’s final, a record-breaking Littler finished up with 60 scores of 180 for the tournament – the most by a player in a Grand Slam campaign. ‘The Nuke’ also joined a shortlist of only Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen to have completed a Grand Slam with seven 100+ averages in as many matches.

The Grand Slam/World Championship Double

Since the introduction of the Grand Slam of Darts in 2007 there has been five occasions when a player has won the title and gone on to lift the PDC World Darts Championship the following January. Phil Taylor was the first player to complete the double, retaining the Grand Slam in November 2008 and then reclaiming the World Championship at Ally Pally in January 2009. ‘The Power’ repeated the feat 12 months later, but it would be another seven years before a player won those two titles in the same season.

In the 2016-17 campaign, Michael van Gerwen backed up his Grand Slam victory by going all the way at the World Championship. He would be the last player to complete the double up until 2022 when the floodgates opened for Michael Smith. ‘Bully Boy’ landed his first major title at the 2022 Grand Slam of Darts and less than two months later became world champion and world number one.

The current world number one Luke Humphries followed in the footsteps of Smith last season, lifting the 2023 Grand Slam of Darts title and then triumphing at Ally Pally just six weeks later. All eyes are on Luke Littler now to see if he can continue the streak and make it a hat-trick of successive Grand Slam/World Championship doubles.

What Do The Experts Say?

Sky Sports pundit and commentator Wayne Mardle speaking to Sky Sports after Luke Littler’s title success at the Grand Slam of Darts last night:-

“Coming into this (the Grand Slam of Darts), it was Luke Humphries, he’s the man to beat, he’s the one that they’ve all got to kind of get rid of and get out of the draw. Now it’s Luke Littler and if Littler or Humphries goes out early in the Worlds, the other one goes as the favourite immediately.

“The way that Luke Littler has played this week, at times it was unplayable – especially with Martin Lukeman and against Jermaine Wattimena – but two players have had a right good go at trying to beat him and just failed.

“It’s not that they can’t beat Luke, it’s just the fact that he somehow finds a way to get over the line. And in the long-format World Championship, he’s going to be difficult to beat, he really is, and the other players know that.”

 

Weekly Dartscast co-host Alex Moss was in attendance at the WV Active Aldersley yesterday to watch Luke Littler win the Grand Slam of Darts for the first time:-

“I was fortunate enough to get a ticket to watch both the semi-finals and the final of the Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton yesterday. For the champion Luke Littler his semi-final and final could not have been more different in terms of the scoreline, with a 16-15 nail-biting victory in the semis against Gary Anderson followed by a 16-3 one-sided win in the final over Martin Lukeman.

“One thing that was a constant in both matches though was the world-class ability Littler possesses in his game. The 180-hitting was at a rate that I can scarcely recall seeing, especially over the long format. The 16 180s against Anderson in the semis and then to hit 12 maximums in the final, it was incredible. It dug him out of a hole against Anderson, whilst in the final that barrage of 180s at the start of the game blew Lukeman away.

“The last two years we’ve seen Michael Smith and Luke Humphries both follow up impressive title wins at the Grand Slam by winning the big one at Ally Pally. During the year on the Weekly Dartscast podcast I’ve stuck by Luke Humphries as my favourite to win the Worlds this season, but after this past week in Wolverhampton I have to change my stance and put Littler as the player to beat at Ally Pally this year.”

Who Will Be Crowned World Champion In 2025?

The PDC World Darts Championship is just around the corner with the biggest darts event of the year set to take place at Alexandra Palace from December 15 through to January 3. The draw is scheduled to be held a week today (November 25) in London, with the 32 seeds to be finalised following the Players Championship Finals this upcoming weekend (November 22-24).

The reigning world champion Luke Humphries will go into his title defence as the number one seed, whilst Grand Slam champion Luke Littler’s position is still to be confirmed. Last night’s victory saw the 17-year-old jump up to number five in the world, which as things stand would see him potentially lock horns with Humphries in the quarter-finals on January 1.

Let us know your early predictions for who will be crowned the winner of the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship. Get in touch with Darts Corner on socials via X (Twitter) or Facebook!

Pictures: PDC

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