“A lot of sleep, practice, Xbox, chill out" - The simple, yet effective preparation routine that could see Luke Littler take first world title in coming weeks

Luke Littler starts the 2025 World Darts Championship as one of the standout favourites. Slightly different to last year, when to the surprise of almost the entire darting world, the relatively unknown 16-year-old made it to the final, before eventually lost 7-4 to Luke Humphries.

Littler is a full-time pro these days, but did he ever have a backup plan for if his darts career didn't take off? “A back-up? Not really,” he says in conversation with The Telegraph. “I was just focused on darts. If it didn’t go to plan, I’d probably just be in college with my mates. Luckily for myself I’m here.”

Since last year's world final, Littler has become a household name in the UK, transcending the sport of darts. Massive names such as David Beckham and John Cena have interacted with Littler on social media. His beloved Manchester United have invited the teenager to their training ground where, in front of the first team, he casually threw a 180 on his first visit to the board. Littler was also driven around the Silverstone Formula One circuit by F1 star Lando Norris, was personally welcomed to WWE headquarters in New York by current champion Cody Rhodes and met Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford. All this just to say what a rollercoaster it was for Littler.

“No one has really told me how to be me – I’m just myself,” Littler shrugs, not really paying too much attention to the new-found notoriety, admitting his conversation with Sir Alex Ferguson wasn't anything special. “I didn’t really understand him… I did hear him say, ‘stick at it’.”

Despite his rocket-boosted rise to fame, Littler hasn't particularly had any negative attention thankfully. “I don’t really know. It’s good to have a following. People send nice messages – there’s not really too many negatives,” he explains. "Obviously you get off a late flight – 1am, 2am – and people are asking for pictures but I’m, ‘Go on, you may as well, you might not see me again’.”

'The Nuke' is also on the shortlist of both the BBC Sports Personality of the Year and BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year. “It would be a big thing for myself but I’ve not really looked at it too much. The person in first [Keely Hodgkinson is the bookmaker’s favourite]... is it a runner? People don’t really class us as athletes do they? So, if I’m second to win it [with the bookies], that’ll do.”

Littler starts this year's World Darts Championship as the fourth seed. As a result, he enters in the second round and meets the winner of the duel between Fallon Sherrock and Ryan Meikle. Expectations are obviously a lot higher this year than on his debut last year. "I just wanted to win my first game. Obviously I want to lift the trophy, but the pressures and being favourite, doesn’t really get to me. I just play my game,” he previews, opening up on his preparation. “A lot of sleep, practice, Xbox, chill out. An hour to an-hour-and-a-half [a day] on the board. Keep the arm loose. [But] mostly just chilling… [see] some mates… go out with them sometimes, otherwise just chilling in my bedroom on my own, playing my game, on my phone.”

Littler is frequently compared to the greatest of all time, Phil Taylor, who captured no fewer than 16 world titles. The pair actually met up for a meal together relatively recently. “As soon as he walked in, me and my mum were, ‘What is going on!? Sat down having a meal with Phil Taylor!" Littler recalls. "It was good. He was telling me some of the stories on tour, [about] some of the players. He was saying, ‘Just keep yourself to yourself. The least you interact with people, the harder it is for them. Don’t need to talk to anyone’.”

Despite earning more than £1 million this year, Littler still lives with his parents Anthony and Lisa after a move earlier this year. "He’s like my baby still even though he looks like a man,” says mum Lisa proudly.

Besides all the time he spent practicing at home, playing in a darts academy and competing on the PDC Development Tour, Littler honed his skills in pubs from the age of eight, where he often beat the best adults. “My dad had seen my ability – and I listened to him,” Littler explains. “I believed in him. He believed in me. He’s done so much for me, funding me with petrol, hotels, entry fees. He’s the main man. Now he can just chill out, travel everywhere with me.”