Luke Littler has claimed Phil Taylor, the greatest darts player in history, would ‘struggle’ if he was playing today.
Taylor dominated the sport across three decades, winning over 200 professional tournaments, 87 major titles and a record 16 World Championships.
But Littler, the current world champion, believes Taylor would ‘struggle’ to replicate those achievements if he was playing now due to the increased ‘competition’ in the sport.
Littler, 18, became the youngest world champion in darts history when he won last year’s tournament at Alexandra Palace, having lost the final the previous year as a debutant.
The teenage sensation has already won four other major titles, including last year’s Premier League. He is also top of this year’s standings with 16 wins from 20 matches.
‘There’s a record there [Phil Taylor’s] to be broken, but it’s going to take some doing,’ Littler said on Sky Bet’s Stick to Football podcast.
‘He also won the World Matchplay 16 times, so he’s won two of the big majors 16 times – it’ll take some doing.
‘It [the competition] is a lot better now. You still had Phil Taylor, Eric Bristow – it was still a good field, but nowadays, I think Phil would struggle.’
Littler also insisted he was capable of matching Taylor’s remarkable tally of world championship titles ‘if he wanted to’.
‘Phil Taylor was my idol,’ said Littler, who started playing darts when he was 18 months old. ‘If I can be bothered to stay in darts for that time, I could maybe beat his record.
‘He was 52 when he won his 16th world title. If I want to, then I will.’
Littler has an incredibly busy schedule, playing in tournaments almost every week and then taking to the Premier League Darts stage in various cities across Europe on Thursday evenings.
As a result Littler says he ‘barely’ practices, having recently revealed he had ‘not picked up a dart’ for a week before a Premier League Darts nightly win.
‘Some people like to practice a lot, but I barely practice during the week,’ he added. ‘I was being honest the other week in my interview about not picking up a dart from the previous tournament.
‘We have the Premier League on a Thursday and usually, we’re then flying somewhere on the Friday for an international tournament, so you’re playing Thursday to Sunday.
‘On Monday and Tuesday, we tend to have pro tours and then back to the Premier League on a Thursday. My practice is playing in these tournaments every week.’
After retiring in 2018, Taylor competed in the first three World Seniors Darts Championships but no longer plays the sport competitively.
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