Luke Humphries continued his era of dominance over the the last twelve months last weekend, taking the
World Matchplay title for the first time in his career after victory over
Michael van Gerwen in a thrilling final.
Despite being seemingly unstoppable at the moment, Humphries insists he is still far the all-conquering force he may seem. "Well nothing stopped me this week of course, but the next major anyone could stop me!" Humphries laughs in a post-match interview. "I'm not unbeatable! Michael was close to beating me tonight, Stephen Bunting was a little bit close, he could have beaten me, James Wade was close, but I've just got that drive and resolve to go on and win. I've probably watched that 100 finish a hundred times. It's one of those finishes I'll always remember."
Straight after the World Matchplay final, Van Gerwen was having to depart Blackpool and head for another surgery on his mouth and jaw. As it turns out however, Humphries too is set to get his teeth and mouth looked at. "Unfortunately for me, I've got to have, not quite braces but some Invisaline put on my teeth," he revealed after his latest title win. "You know, Michael is having a big operation as well. I'm going to have my teeth all corrected and straightened so that's going to hurt for a few weeks so I'll have to get over that but I'm glad to be getting it sorted and look back being healthy again."
For his part, Van Gerwen said ''In 14 hours I will be under the knife,'' he alludes to a major operation on his teeth. ''Why so soon? Because the doctor has time then. It's part of the job. I've been looking forward to it for a long time and I'm also looking forward to the second half of the season. I think I showed nice things here and did myself a nice service. I can be proud of myself,'' in his own post-match interview.
Humphries celebrating his World Matchplay win