"Luke Humphries was the man to beat. Now it's Luke Littler" - Wayne Mardle makes Grand Slam champ favourite for Ally Pally glory

Luke Littler took his first major ranking title at the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts last weekend by beating Martin Lukeman 16-3 in the final. Ex-pro turned Sky Sports pundit Wayne Mardle is therefore putting the 17-year-old Englishman forward as one of the top favourites for the upcoming World Darts Championship.

Before the Grand Slam of Darts started, Mardle, a four-time semi-finalist at the World Darts Championship, had a different opinion. "Coming into this, it was Luke Humphries, he's the man to beat, he's the one that they've all got to kind of get rid of and get out of the draw," Hawaii 501 explained on Sky Sports. "Now it's Luke Littler and if Littler or Humphries goes out early in the Worlds, the other one goes as the favourite immediately."

Still, as has been seen with the recent string of surprise major winners, Littler isn't unbeatable. "At times it was unplayable - especially with Martin Lukeman and against Jermaine Wattemina - but two players have had a right good go at trying to beat him and just failed," Mardle explains, referring to Mike De Decker and Gary Anderson, both of whom lost out in last leg deciders to the teenage sensation. "It's not that they can't beat Luke, it's just the fact that he somehow finds a way to get over the line. And in the long-format World Championship, he's going to be difficult to beat, he really is, and the other players know that."

After emerging at the last edition of the World Darts Championship, Littler has been on the PDC circuit for almost a year now, already managing to rise to 5th in the rolling PDC Order of Merit. "The best thing that happened was that he got an invite into the Premier League and accepted it," Mardle says. "That was the change for me. The way that we saw him acquit himself every single week in the Premier League was mind-blowing, it was mesmerising."

"Sometimes you had to look at him and remember how young he is. The Premier League is a real tough ask. It's so difficult week in, week out," Mardle adds. "But when you are good enough, none of that matters, and Luke Littler's good enough. He's right up there with some of the best that we've ever seen, but he's got to do it again and again and again. He's right up there with Taylor, Van Gerwen, 'Barney' and Eric Bristow, for me."

Speaking of Bristow, the legendary five time world champion's name is on the title at the Grand Slam of Darts and Mardle thinks it is very fitting that Luke Littler has now lifted the Eric Bristow Trophy. "And do you know what I think's really apt? That he's holding the Eric Bristow Trophy, probably one of the finest teenage darts sensations back in the day that we've ever set eyes on," Mardle concludes. "Eric would approve. He certainly would."