“I have surprised myself this year" admits all-conquering Luke Humphries ahead of 2024 World Series of Darts Finals

The world number one and world champion, Luke Humphries is unquestionably the most dominant force in PDC darts today. So dominant and successful has 'Cool Hand Luke' been though, he admits he's actually surprised even himself.

The list of major titles that Humphries currently holds in the darting reads: the World Grand Prix, the Grand Slam of Darts, the Players Championship Finals, the World Darts Championship, the World Cup of Darts and the World Matchplay. Add to that runs to the final at the both the UK Open and the Premier League Darts in 2024 and Humphries has been nearly unbeatable on the biggest stages over the past twelve months.

“I have surprised myself this year," he admits ahead of the 2024 World Series of Darts Finals, in quotes collected by Toyo Tires. "When I won the Grand Prix last October I felt at the time it was a great start to my career with my first major win. I’d love to follow it up with another major in the next 12 months. That would have been a realistic goal. But I followed it up with two more majors straight away and then the World Championship, World Cup and World Matchplay. There’s been many other major finals as well along the way. There’s been major wins but also eight or nine finals in a year. It’s something quite incredible to be honest."

Because of Humphries' incredible year, his name has quickly risen up the list pantheon of darting greats. Over the course of the PDC, only the great Phil Taylor and peak Michael van Gerwen have ever had twelve month spells with such dominance.

“It may be something I’ll never be able to do again, it will be incredibly tough. I just want to keep working hard and playing well and lift as many major titles as I can," Humphries assesses. “I won’t be putting too much pressure on myself to retain every trophy I won last year. It’s kind of impossible to recalibrate and do the same. The talent is too high these days. I always say my goal is to pick up a couple of majors a year. If you do that and tick along, you’ll be sat in the world’s top four for a long time.”

At the World Series of Darts Finals in 2023, Humphries lost out in the semi-finals. If he wants to go one better and make another TV final this time round in Amsterdam, the world champion first has to deal with New Zealander, Haupai Puha.

“I’m feeling really good, I had a nice break and time off. I came back last week and felt back to normal. Going into this weekend I feel sharp again. Now I’m ready for the back end of the year and the big majors," Humphries, who won his first World Series even recently in New Zealand, previews. “It meant a lot to win in New Zealand for the World Series, it was something I wanted to tick off on my CV. They are not say to win with the top eight players in the world in them. They might be small events but to us top players they mean a lot to win. This is not a ranked event but it’s important to get a great start to what I call the business end of a tough year.”