"I’m not saying that Luke Humphries has made a mistake here but..." - Paul Nicholson urges 'Cool Hand Luke' to better manage his calendar after admission of fatigue

Last week, Luke Humphries, the world number one in darts, opened up about the pressure he's been feeling, admitting that he's in desperate need of a break. The 30-year-old Englishman revealed that he's currently lacking the passion and motivation to go all in on his game. According to former major winner Paul Nicholson though, it's down to Humphries himself to manage his schedule better.

“When I’m up on stage I am just feeling emotionless," said Humphries at the International Darts Open last weekend, where he reached the semi-finals. "It’s weird and it’s me being honest to all the fans. I feel like my emotions are just all over the place. It’s not that I don’t want to be here — it just seems a chore for me at the moment. It’s just too much darts. I’m playing too much. I think I need a break. I’m emotionless and it is not good for my mental state. The emotion was drained from there. Usually, I have the fight in me."

As mentioned though, in Nicholson's opinion, the onus should be more on Humphries to better manage his schedule. "He does have a point to a certain extent but a lot of these players at the top of the rankings, with Humphries being the perfect example, have got to be able to pace themselves in what is a 12-month season," explains the former Players Championship Finals winner on TalkSport.

“It’s not like football where it’s seven or eight months – in darts when the World Championship is over on January 3rd, they’re already thinking about what’s happening on January 4th," Nicholson continues. “If you don’t plan ahead then you’re going to get to this point where your welfare is questioned."

With Humphries not the only one of the big stars commenting about fatigue though, could it be that Premier League Darts selection actually has a negative effect in the long run? “I never played in Premier League darts so it wasn’t the same as Humphries, but it was a weekly thing where you were constantly playing tournaments, doing exhibitions and fulfilling sponsorship requirements but these days with the popularity of the sport it has gone to a new level," analyses 'The Asset'.

“It’s a shame because I applauded Luke Humphries for saying what was on his mind and people in any sport should have the power to say what they want in that moment and Humphries was speaking after a win when adrenaline was high and said what was on his mind and there’s nothing wrong with that," he adds. “If you’re going to these tournaments as world number one or world number 64, it’s your choice. If you’re in the Premier League you’ve got an obligation to play 16 weeks on Thursday nights and if you play on week 17 then that’s great because you’re in the play-offs, but everything in between, you have to manage that."

"The Players’ Championship events, the European Tour events, it’s up to you to programme it so that you don’t burn out, but unfortunately it looks like some of the guys are getting to that point,” Nicholson stresses. “The power is with the player here. That has to be the message. If you’re at the point where you think you’re not going to perform at your best then maybe you need to have planned a bit better."

"I’m not saying that Luke Humphries has made a mistake here but look at Luke Littler, the most talked-about darts player in the world. Was he in Riesa at the weekend? No he wasn’t. Was he in Gottingem a couple of weeks ago? No. Why? Because he’s managing his schedule a little bit better than anybody else is at the moment," Nicholson concludes. “I know that Littler winning the Belgian Darts Open at the start of March was the kind of thing where you can say, ‘I’ve won one of these so I can take a break from the next few’ but I’ll be fascinated to see if these Premier League stars going to Munich over the Easter weekend. If they do, we have to ask ‘you said you were burned out, why are you going to Munich?’”