Luke Littler has been told he will break Phil Taylor’s records as long as he stays away from two things.
The teenage darts sensation continued his meteoric rise on Sunday by claiming his first major ranking title.
Littler beat Martin Lukeman 16-3 to win the Grand Slam of Darts, reeling off 15 legs on the spin as he clinched victory in the final.
In doing so he scooped £150,000 in prize money along with his 10th title of the year.
Still in his first 12 months on the PDC Tour, Littler has already won the Premier League and World Series of Darts Finals.
Meanwhile, he has a further seven wins across the World Series, Pro Tour and Euro Tour in 2024.
Lukeman is predicting even more success for the 17-year-old in the future and believes he can surpass Taylor’s historic legacy.
He told Darts Now after the final: “He has a Boost, a meal deal, a curry, and walks up and smashes me like that.
“Yeah he’s having squashies at the half-time break too! I’m like ‘this boy is a joke’.
“I take my hat off to him and wish him all the best, and his family.”
He added: “I was alright in the final, giving it all large with the crowd and that.
“But yeah, I felt good, the boy, he’s just different man. It’s no Michael (van Gerwen). You know if he keeps his head on, forget about Michael van Gerwen’s records. He’s going to beat Phil Taylor’s records.
Martin Lukeman has tipped Littler for greatness after the Grand Slam of Darts final[/caption]
“If he keeps his head right, stays away (from) drink, girls whatever. That boy is going to go very, very far. He will break records. Ridiculously.”
Taylor won 16 world titles during his career, with Littler reaching the final on debut aged just 16 last year.
Meanwhile, the Power also hit 11 televised career nine-darters, a feat the Nuke has already managed twice on TV this season.
Littler’s win on Sunday followed another record-breaking performance the previous day.
He smashed Jermaine Wattimena 16-2 in the quarter-finals to inflict the heaviest defeat at that stage in Grand Slam history.
Founder of Matchroom Sport Barry Hearn joined talkSPORT Breakfast on Monday morning after Littler’s win.
Hearn was pressed by Jeff Stelling as to whether Littler can go on to have a better career than Phil Taylor, Eric Bristow, John Lowe and Michael van Gerwen
To which he said: “He could be better than all of them.
“But you look at someone like Luke Littler, he wasn’t a secret to those people in the inner circles of darts, but what he did last year in the World Championships was simply stunning.
“Because going up on the big stage, which is like going from Sunday League football to walking out at Wembley, it’s a different world.
“But when you look at these kids and you say, ‘OK, what’s he done since then?,’ well what he’s done since then, he’s probably earned about £1.5million – he’s only 17-years-old!
“And he’s hitting averages – numbers don’t lie – pretty much everyone else in this world lies, numbers never lie.
“So your three-dart average is your three-dart average and you can pretty well tell if someone is averaging 110/114, which he regularly does, they’re special.
“And you can compare that directly with an Eric Bristow that won the World Championships in the late 1980s, who was averaging under 90 per three darts.
“If today you’re not capable of doing at least 110, you’ve got no chance, and this is with the same equipment but in different environments – a professional environment.
“And Phil Taylor led the way, because he went to work every day, so he played six/seven/eight hours every day.
“He said, ‘You get quite good after a while,’ and it’s not surprising, these kids are following in the great Phil’s footsteps and Michael van Gerwen’s and putting the work in, and they’ve got no fear.
“They’ve got no wives, no children, no mortgages, they’re just playing darts.
“Luke Littler’s face when he won on Saturday [Sunday] night was just joy personified.
“And all he could think about was going home and playing on his Xbox and having a kebab, so simplicity!
“He wasn’t going to jump into his Ferrari because his other Ferrari is in the garage, he’s identifiable to the mass of kids out there saying, ‘I want some of that.’”
Asked whether he can win the World Championship, Hearn stated: “I think he has a great chance, you can never say for sure, but he would be my favourite.
“Simply on his consistency and the fact that he’s got this extra two or three gears.
“His match against [Gary] Anderson in the semi-finals of the Grand Slam was one of the great games, and Anderson, he’s super, one of the great all-time players.
“The fact that he [Littler] was four down and reeled him off, that’s special.”
The darts prodigy is also now up to fifth in the provisional PDC Order of Merit after his triumph in Wolverhampton.
He could still climb higher before the end of the year with the Players Championship Finals in Minehead this weekend.
Another £120,000 is on offer for the winner, with Littler seeded eighth based on his performances on the Pro Tour.
However, he will face former world champion Rob Cross in the first round on Friday for a place in the last 32.
