"Everyone wants to see you lose" - Tough at the top as Luke Humphries sees potential reasoning behind Luke Littler getting booed

Luke Littler caused the necessary fuss last month when he announced he would not play any more tournaments in Germany until October. The 18-year-old Englishman was booed at the German Darts Grand Prix and that clearly did not please him.

"I am surprised and I'm not surprised," responds current world number one Luke Humphries. "The reason I'm surprised is because he's done nothing wrong. But the reason I'm not surprised is because everybody wants to knock someone down that's doing well, don't they? That's what happens in life. I really never had anything like that until I became world champion and world No 1. Then all of a sudden, you're getting it all the time. It's like nobody wants to see you succeed. And if you do, then people want to boo you."

"I think the reason why it's been happening is because he's not the underdog anymore. When you're at the top, everyone wants to see you lose. When you get booed, they just want to put you off. Luke just has to take it on the chin and accept that this is what happens when you get to the top.

Humphries then speaks from his own experience. "It's happened to me and it's happened to Gezzy [Gerwyn Price] when he was at the top. It's happened to Michael [van Gerwen] when he was world No 1 and world champion. It's just what happens, unfortunately.

Still, Humphries is not too worried about his compatriot's statements and believes Littler will simply be present at the World Cup of Darts in June."He said, 'no, I'm definitely playing', and of course he is. No one's going to turn down playing for England. You can't never turn down playing for your country. I would never turn it down in a million years, no matter how tired I was, how ill I was. I'm putting on the England jersey."

"We're fully aware that we're going to be massive favourites and everyone's going to expect us to win it. But for me, I feel like we have to take away that pressure and just go out and enjoy it.

"Luke's obviously experienced a lot of pressure, but there is a lot more pressure when you're playing for your country. Luke's got good doubles experience. We're a great team and if we gel and play our best, it's going to take a tough performance to beat us."