After his 3-0 win over Thibault Tricole, Luke Humphries is in the third round of the PDC Darts World Championship. The fact that he has to wait twelve days for his next World Cup appearance doesn’t suit the defending champion at all.
While it feels like everyone in the world is talking about child prodigy Luke Littler or Michael Smith’s sensational exit in round two, the reigning darts world champion Luke Humphries is attracting significantly less attention.
The 29-year-old is once again one of the favorites to win this year. The Englishman survived the second round of the World Cup last Saturday with an underwhelming but never threatened 3-0 win over Frenchman Thibault Tricole.
In round three, Humphries could face 2007 champion Raymond van Barneveld. The Dutchman will compete against the Welshman Nick Kenny on Saturday evening (9:15 p.m./DAZN and Sport 1). The fact that he has to take a twelve-day break before his next assignment probably doesn’t suit “Cool Hand Luke” at all.
Darts world champion Humphries: “Two weeks is a long time”
“I would rather play more games to get the momentum,” said Humphries on “talkSPORT Drive”, also regarding the three-day break over Christmas: “If I achieved an average of 105 on Sunday, that means nothing when you look at twelve days plays later.”
In his opening World Cup match, Humphries achieved an average score of 90.76 – a result that he obviously wants to improve on. For comparison: In the World Cup final against Littler in January, Humphries averaged 103.67. “It can be helpful in both ways,” the Brit admitted: “But two weeks is a long time. When you come back, you have to be at your best.”
After his performance in round two, Humphries wants one thing above all: to stay calm. “It doesn’t matter how you play in the first game, the main thing is that you get through,” said “Cool Hand Luke” in his introduction.
And long break or not: defending the title remains the declared goal. “It would be a nice coronation if I could become world champion for the second time. But I still have five games to go,” explained Humphries, who doesn’t want to put unnecessary pressure on himself: “Even if I don’t win again, I’ll be proud to the year I have behind me.”