"it'd be the most incredible thing I've ever seen in my lifetime": Luke Humphries rooting for Luke Littler clean sweep but only under one main caveat

Luke Humphries has said that he is rooting for Luke Littler to complete the clean sweep, but only if it is when he is out of a tournament himself as 'The Nuke' looks to hold all majors in a calendar year with further boxes to be ticked.

But albeit as his rival and even friend, he said that it would be the most incredible thing if he did manage to do it. Humphries was speaking after he managed to edge past Jermaine Wattimena 6-4 at the World Series of Darts Finals in what was a business-like display after he lost early at the World Matchplay.

For Humphries, it was a bit not getting wrapped up in the hoodoo that an early loss could present, especially after a form of doing so at times as of late. "Obviously you don't want that drama because I feel like, you know, Jermaine was missing, and he was giving me chances, and I could have been sat in my hotel room for 10 minutes being like, 'What the hell has just happened? How have I missed like 11, 12 darts to win the game?' he said post-match to Online Darts."

"So they can be frustrating, but obviously when you win you kind of don't really care about it too much, but it was a decent performance overall apart from that, and I don't really usually get them. I wasn't nervous; I just felt like the apprehension of trying to win too much, and I don't usually get that, but I did.

"I think it sometimes happens. When you've lost a first round in a major, I can't remember the last time I won or lost two first-round games in a major, so I just felt like that pressure's on your shoulders that you just don't want it to happen, and I was desperately trying to try and get that double in, but now I've got the double in the end. I feel like the next game will just be a lot more relaxed, and it'll be a lot more free-flowing."

"I can't remember the last time I lost, you know, two majors in the first round back to back, so I was kind of like, 'You don't ever want that to happen.'"

"I can't remember the last time I lost the first round before that, so it's like, you know, then things can play on your mind; you don't want to. If you go on a little run of losing first-round games, it can keep going and keep going, so I wasn't thinking that while I was playing the game, but obviously when you're in those moments, you just want to get over the line, and I think for me, I'm one of those players. Once I get over the first round, then I'm relaxed, and I start to play really, really well, but yeah, the first games can be the toughest, and you know, Jermaine actually played a really good game; it was just a couple of big finishes from me and a couple of missed moments for him that actually won me the game.

Now the format goes up, and for Humphries, he said that obviously it favours the bigger names, so he is excited to get that opportunity to not be under so much pressure.

"First to six is always a tough, tough game. You know, anybody can be anybody in this room, the draw that you see; anybody can be anybody. There is no, like, obviously you have your favourites, but anybody can be anybody first of six. When it's first of ten, the stronger player tends to win. You know, if you've lost a game first of ten, likely initially you deserve to lose, and if you've played really well, then you probably deserve to win. So yeah, when you're playing that sort of level of format, then the better player always wins, and it suits the likes of me much better, so obviously it being first of ten is going to help me out a little bit more, and I relax a lot more, and yeah, I think that would just suit me a little bit more than first of six.

But for Humphries now, he is just desperate to win a major and get over the line again, and he believes that it could create a knock-on effect from there where he will win more.

"I feel like I've not been unlucky, but I feel like I've been so close to so many majors over the last 12 months. It's like I feel like I just need one to whet the appetite a little bit because I think I've lost five now, five major titles since I won my last, and obviously a lot of them have been to Luke, so, you know, he's not no disgrace, but I feel like I've been close a lot, and it'd just be nice to get out of the line, whether it's this week or in the Grand Prix or the Grand Slam, just one before the World's because I feel like I deserve one a little bit in a way.

"I mean, you put in what you deserve, but I feel like I just deserve one, so it's up to me to try and, like, really work hard this weekend to make it right and to win one because if I get on that little roll again, then I can really start pushing and, you know, putting a lot more pressure on other players.

But of course, amid all of that, the chatter will surround Luke Littler's clean sweep, and while he is willing to do it, he doesn't want it if it is at his detriment.

"I don't want to be the one to stop him from doing it; I don't want to achieve it because I want to win a major. If he does the clean sweep, then that means I don't win anything, and obviously, for me, as a personal point of view, I don't want that to happen.

"So my personal opinion of it is if I lose early, then I want him to win because if I don't win a major, I'd love to see him do it because it'd be the most incredible thing I've ever seen in my lifetime anyway. So yeah, obviously I don't want him to do it because I want to win a major, but if I'm, you know, losing in semifinals or quarterfinals or first rounds, whatever happens in the next load of majors, then I'll be rooting for him to do it because it'd be quite some achievement to do it. But yeah, I'm hoping to stop him because I want to win one; that's the most important thing for me.

Returning to Amsterdam is also something that Humphries very much enjoys, and he said that it is only perhaps beaten by New York. But given how much he likes the city, he hopes to add one of the final ticks on his collection this week.

"I mean, it is because it's such a fun country; it's a bit different, and, you know, it's a different city than the usual ones we go to. Some of them can be a little bit more, like a little bit more relaxed, and you don't really have much to do in New York. There are about a million and one things to do. I think I've been there three years or four years on a trot, and I still haven't done everything I wanted to do there.

"So yeah, it's a great city, and for us it's the biggest venue that we'll play in the world, not just the World Series. I mean, Madison Square Garden, it doesn't really get bigger than that at this moment in time. So yeah, it's obviously the favourite one for me, and I think it's the favourite one for most of the players. Obviously back-to-back, it's a very special feeling, and I'll be looking to next year to go do the hat-trick.

"I'd say Amsterdam is probably the second because, obviously, I've been to a lot of places, but this is an amazing city, so, you know, this is still a great place to be, and, you know, I'm really, really happy that the World Series Final is always here. Of course you're right; this is one of the three that I've never won: the European Championships, the UK Open and this one.

"There's another one next year, as we all know, so there's going to be four now. So yeah, I've still got a lot of majors to tick off and to win, and, you know, this is a really, really tough one because you're playing a lot of good players all the time. So yeah, this is one I definitely want to tick off, and if I could do it this year, amazing because obviously I could do the European Championships this year and go to the UK Open and then the one next year and tick them all off. But yeah, my lifelong dream would be to tick off every major that's on the calendar.