At the recent Players Championship Finals, Luke Littler and Ricardo Pietreczko fought a thrilling battle over ten legs before the darts world champion conjured up all his skills on the oche. This was preceded by a few words from the 31-year-old to the Englishman, who apparently misunderstood them.
“When I equalized at 5:5, he came to me and said: ‘I actually only wanted to win one leg and now I’ve won five,'” said “The Nuke” after the game: “I just said to myself: Why is he saying something like that at this moment?” He then decided: “You’ll feel that now. I’ll definitely win this game and that’s how it happened.”
A “psychotrick” to get into the head of the darts high-flyer? “I think the media made it bigger than it actually was,” explained the Berlin native in a press conference: “We were relaxed with each other, we had fun on and off stage. Then in the second break I said something like: ‘Oh, I’m glad I survived the second break’.”
Darts: Luke Littler “a bit arrogant”
A statement that was “meant to be a bit funny, just the way I am,” he continued: “Luke Littler just took it differently somehow.” The 18-year-old responded in his own way and subsequently gave the German little chance. He also incorporated a bit of “show and swagger” into his game. Immediately there were renewed accusations of arrogance against Littler.
“I’m sticking with it, for me it’s a bit arrogant the way he comes across, yes,” Pietreczko reacted: “But I think the way he plays, he can allow himself to do that sometimes.” In particular, a 121 finish over T7 and the Bulls Eye twice was hotly discussed after the game. Number 33 in the Order of Merit takes it all in stride.
“Of course you could also play this 121 differently. But I have to say, at that moment I celebrated it. I think he showed me: ‘I’m the boss here’. I took it easy and actually didn’t think the route was bad at all. You can see that now however you want. But I thought it was okay at that moment,” explained Pietreczko.