Former world darts champion Dennis Priestley has urged current title holder Luke Littler to take care to avoid burnout. Teenage sensation Littler won the PDC title in 2025, having finished as the losing finalist 12 months earlier, and has been busy with PDC events in between.
The 2025 schedule has been relentless for Littler. In addition to his defence of the Premier League Darts title he won last year – with 16 weekly tournaments – the teenager has been travelling around the world to pit himself against the best in the business.
Littler, 18, has added UK Open and Belgian Darts Open titles to his world title this year, and reached the semis at the Dutch Darts Masters. However, Priestley, who won the PDC World Championship in 1994 and was a four-time beaten finalist, has sent the youngster a message.
“Luke Littler says he didn’t pick up his darts for a week, but he probably doesn’t have the time to practise,” Priestley told OLBG. “They have such a full schedule with midweek and weekend competitions usually, he has been racing around hotels in different cities and he probably doesn’t have the time.
“He is playing so often that might mean he doesn’t need to practise, but he does need to be careful he doesn’t burn out. Maybe at some point he will need to take a break.”
Priestley also backed Littler to claim Luke Humphries’ crown of world number one. “You can say that Luke Littler is the best player in history never to have been world number one – but that is certainly to happen this year,” he continued.
“The money list being over two years is what is stopping him at the moment, he’d be top if it was one year. That’s the only reason he isn’t top and it’s now only a matter of time.”
Littler added another Premier League Darts weekly win last time out in Cardiff, hitting a nine-darter along the way. Speaking after that victory, he recognised the need for the occasional break himself.
“I’ve been playing very well – but I must admit I’ve not picked up a dart since last Thursday,” Littler said. “You have got to have rests every now and then, so I just took a week out to chill, but I’m enjoying my performances at the moment.”
After extending his lead at the top of the standings, he added: “It’s good to be standing here with another trophy and with 21 points on the board already. I just want to get to the O2 (play-off finals) as quick as possible and I’ve put myself in a really good position.”
Next up for Littler is a trip to Newcastle for week eight, with Stephen Bunting his quarter-final opponent. He reached the semis in Newcastle last year, falling short against Michael van Gerwen.
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle in an unbeatable new deal that saves £192 and includes 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.
