"I’ll always be world champion" - Luke Humphries quickly moves on from Ally Pally disappointment and targets first Premier League Darts title in 2025

Luke Humphries' PDC World Darts Championship reign is over. The recent edition of the Ally Pally spectacle, Humphries was defeated by Peter Wright in the last 16. Nevertheless, 'Cool Hand Luke' starts the 2025 season as world number one and still one of the players to beat in the sport of darts.

Despite the obvious disappointment of losing his World Darts Championship title, Humphries insists he isn't too downhearted. "I had a great New Year. A lot of people were worried that the World Championship would depress me but it didn’t,’" Humphries explains openly to Metro. "I accepted the defeat, which you have to do. Obviously devastating to lose but the next day I woke up and was fine."

"It didn’t feel like it hurt any more [than other defeats]. I’m quite a chilled guy, to be honest. If it goes it goes, if it doesn’t it doesn’t. That’s why you see me react pretty well to defeat," continues the Englishman. "There’s nothing you can do to change it. It’s not like I’d missed six or seven darts to win the game. I was just second best player in that game. You just have to accept that you’ve lost. Of course you understand the magnitude and I’m no longer world champion, but I’ll always be world champion, that’s the most important thing in my mind. I’ve achieved that dream that every person in their sport wants to and I’m hoping I can achieve it again in the future."

Contrary to Michael Smith, who the year prior was open about his desire to avoid being called a 'former world champion', Humphries seems to have quickly put any lingering frustration quickly out of his mind. "I don’t think it’s too dramatic. You’re world champion and then you’re not," he explains. "It’s not something I’m going to lie in bed for two weeks and be upset about."

"I’m still world champion just not the reigning one anymore. It happened in the Grand Slam, the Grand Prix. I can’t be 20-time world champion and retire, it was always going to happen, so you’ve got to accept it when it does happen," he continues. "If I’m lucky I can win two or three more World Championships in 20 more years of my career, so that’s 17 times out of 20 I’ll experience defeat, but that’s just something you have to accept and it’s quite easy for someone like me. Not that I want to! Of course I was gutted to lose, but I got over it pretty quick. The quicker you accept it the quicker you can move on."

As such, Humphries is confident of quickly getting back to winning ways and continuing to add to his ever-growing trophy cabinet in 2025. "It’s hard to set yourself goals when you’ve achieved so much," he says. "Three big tournaments last year and four the year before that, if I start setting myself goals of five then you’re putting too much pressure on yourself."

"Realistically I’m trying to win one or two majors a year. Which is more than realistic, it’s fair and not too much pressure. If I was to win one major a year for the next 20 years, that puts me on over 25. If I left my career on 25 majors I’d be well happy!" Humphries reveals. "The Premier League would be the one, if I had a target. I said last year I wanted to win the Matchplay and the World Cup and I did that. My target this year, if I was going to say one, would be the Premier League."

"I feel like I’m still one of the best players in the world. The World Championship didn’t go my way and some people think I’m gone now, but I’ve won one of the last two majors, I won the Players Championship a month-and-a-half ago! People will write you off, they wrote me off after the Grand Slam and straight away I won the Players," Humphries concludes. "It’s hard to pinpoint the best player. Luke Littler probably is now, but you go back to last year Michael van Gerwen was the best player in the world for the first 2-3 months, then I was for 2-3 months, then Luke, then me again, then Luke again. It chops and changes. Me and Luke are at the top at the moment but there’s an array of players below us who can definitely catch up."