The 2025 PDC World Championship finished on Friday night with 17-year old Luke Littler taking a step further than last year, and becoming the latest dog-tired dartist required to hold that heaviest of trophies aloft for longer than it took him to reel off the first four sets. Here are some thoughts.
- Littler was a much-deserved champion. He was consistently the best player, averaging over 100 in 5 of his 6 matches, and dealt with what ought to have been intolerable pressure with aplomb.
- Littler’s skill will be matched by other 17-year olds, but his action is flawless, and the way he owns the stage is truly remarkable.
- The Nuke had a favourable draw, helped by avoiding Edhouse and Searle in the early rounds, or facing a Mohican-shaped banana skin that his namesake Humphries discovered in round 4. But the draw is unlikely to have made a great deal of difference. His ability to pressurise opponents when seemingly out of legs was uncanny.
- Talk has subsequently shifted to how many titles Littler can win, and whether Phil Taylor’s record is in danger. It’s not. The main question should be whether young Luke can cope with his future: the force appears strong in his family, but when grubby elements of the British press turn on him, and fans get bored of him winning, will his overconfidence become his weakness?
- If he needs a role model then he should look no further than former champions Humphries and Van Gerwen, both once again showing sportspeople how to lose properly. MVG may not win this tournament again, but Humphries surely be there or thereabouts for several years.
- In all, it was a good tournament for MVG, who played in the finest match that really mattered – his defeat of Callan Rydz in the quarter final. Rydz ended with three of the top four averages; watching whether he can sustain this form will be an intrigue for 2025.
- Others for whom 2025 was a good vintage included the two losing semi-finalists, Stephen Bunting and Chris Dobey, the third Luke (Woodhouse, with excellent victories over de Decker and Heta), Ryan Joyce, and, until a shocking fourth round display, Ricardo Pietreczko. Robert Owen won’t forget this tournament either, drafted in as a lucky loser before winning three matches and, eventually, retaining his tour card.
- As seems to regularly happen, the exciting games dried up towards the end. The last six losing semi-finalists have won just six sets between them, and this year no games from quarter final onwards reached a final set, a result, to some extent, of the record number of seeds dropping in round 2.
- Thoughts should be spared too for Damon Heta and Christian Kist, both losers with a £60k 9-darter bonus. And Joe Cullen may have learnt that deciding not to talk to the media only works if the media subsequently want to hear from you: toys, pram, etc, and good luck being given any coverage over the next 12 months.
- Wayne Mardle was sorely missed, the coverage flatter and more monochrome in his absence; the sadness at his wife’s sudden death amongst the PDC and Sky teams will have been deep – they are a substitute family at this time of year. The tribute to Donna to end the final transmission was welcome.
- This tournament illustrated what a great job the spotters have done for many years – with key shots missed entirely, especially in the early stages, a disaster for TV and live audiences alike. (The increased obsession with darts Premier League is also extremely dull – this is the World Championship, not some qualifying event – and let’s not get started with Sky’s Merry Football Dartmas nonsense).
- And the Championship continues its struggle to live up to World billing. Littler beat 5 Englishmen before he owned Dutchman MVG on Friday night. It was an all-European last 16, and MVG was the only non-Brit in the last 8. Four Filipinos in the draw was something new, but in the seventh year since expanding to 96 players, little has changed at the sharp end.
Of course, the gripes are minor; the tournament belonged to Littler, probably now the most famous dart player ever. Once the hyperbole has settled, 2025 in darts should be fun.