Luke Littler is hoping to leave Leicester with a better impression of the World Grand Prix next week after not enjoying his debut in the event last year.
The Nuke played in the double-in-double-out tournament last season for the first time, during his opening campaign as a professional.
He was handed a tough contest at the 2024 World Grand Prix, taking on former world champion Rob Cross in the opening round and he fell short, losing 2-1 to Voltage.
It is hardly a disgrace to narrowly lose to a player of Cross’ class, but it leaves the world champion still looking for his first win in the Grand Prix.
He faces talented 23-year-old Dutchman Gian van Veen in the opening round on Tuesday night in Leicester and will have to conquer his dislike for the double-in format.
Speaking at the launch of a Target Darts pop-up in Manchester last month, Littler said of the upcoming Grand Prix: ‘Obviously it’s the next big one. I’ll be honest, I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the double start.
‘I think it’s obviously one of the toughest tournaments to win. The Worlds, the Matchplay, the Premier League. But the double start…if you don’t get off, then you’re in trouble.’
Littler has been racking up the major titles this season, starting the year by winning the biggest of them all at the World Championship.
He has since added the UK Open and World Matchplay to his collection and goes into the Grand Prix as the clear favourite with the bookmakers.
The Nuke says he will be focussing on his doubles going into the event, desperate not to forget the unusual double-in rule.
‘I can’t say I really practice the double start often but obviously leading up to it I think I’ll have to, just get used to it,’ he said.
‘Every year we’ll see someone hit a treble twenty first out and then they forget. It’ll be tough.’
The World Grand Prix signals the start of the business end of the darts calendar, with the European Championship, Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championship Finals before the World Championship gets underway on December 11.
‘This is it. This is the busy schedule,’ said Littler. ‘I think it’s a major, a week off, then another major: Grand Prix, Grand Slam, Players Championships and then obviously the Worlds. But it’s all practice up until the worlds.
World Grand Prix first round schedule
Monday October 6
6pm
Rob Cross v Wessel Nijman
Martin Schindler v Krzysztof Ratajski
Chris Dobey v Cameron Menzies
James Wade v Joe Cullen
Danny Noppert v Jermaine Wattimena
Luke Humphries v Nathan Aspinall
Gary Anderson v Raymond van Barneveld
Stephen Bunting v Niko Springer
Tuesday October
6pm
Damon Heta v Luke Woodhouse
Ross Smith v Daryl Gurney
Jonny Clayton v Andrew Gilding
Gerwyn Price v Ryan Searle
Luke Littler v Gian van Veen
Michael van Gerwen v Dirk van Duijvenbode
Peter Wright v Mike De Decker
Josh Rock v Ryan Joyce
‘I think as the days are ticking and the Worlds is shortly coming round then it does start to get exciting.’
Littler should not be looking ahead to the World Championship just yet, though, or even past his first round opponent in Leicester, with Paul Nicholson pointing out that Van Veen has had plenty of success against the Nuke already.
‘I love this game for more than one reason because the head-to-head record states that Gian van Veen is 4-3 up,’ former Grand Prix quarter-finalist Nicholson said on the Love The Darts podcast.
‘They’ve never played double start. He [Van Veen] is a double 16 and a bullseye guy. If he gets bulls at the end of legs, Littler could be in trouble.
‘He’s the top qualifier of the players outside the top 16, so he’s the one everybody did not want to get. Take [Nathan] Aspinall out of it because he feels like a seed anyway, but if you did not want to get someone it would have been van Veen.’