"It would risk tarnishing his reputation" - Dennis Priestley doesn't believe Phil Taylor will ever sign up for darts match with Luke Littler

Phil Taylor, with sixteen world titles and numerous other major victories, is the greatest darts player of all time. Facing him would be Luke Littler, the barely 18-year-old Englishman who became the youngest world darts champion ever earlier this year. It’s a matchup many would love to see, but one that is unlikely to ever happen—at least according to Dennis Priestley, the first-ever winner of the PDC World Championship.

Priestley, who won the inaugural PDC World Championship in 1994, was one of Taylor’s fiercest rivals in the years that followed. He knows the now 64-year-old Englishman extremely well. "Phil Taylor at his peak, mentally and physically, would give even the best version of Luke Littler a lot to think about," Priestley told OLBG. "But fans shouldn’t expect to see it now. There is one reason they won’t play and that’s because it would risk tarnishing his reputation. It would have to be silly money to get Phil to agree to it."

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However, earlier this year Luke Littler was confident that a match would come. "I’m sure that will happen soon," he told SPORTbible. "Sooner rather than later. To share the stage with him will be incredible. I’m sure we’ll make it happen. If Taylor does start practicing then it will be tough, but if he just sits at home and then comes to an exhibition then I fancy my chances."

Taylor himself was less enthusiastic about a darts match. "No! Absolutely not! What's that game where you've got to push the blocks out? Jenga. He beat me at that! The little b******! He's a lovely lad, though," he told GB News.

Taylor’s status as a reference point in the sport became evident on April 1, when a highly hyped showdown between the darts veteran and the young sensation Littler turned out to be a Jenga match rather than the on-stage battle everyone had been hoping for.

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