PHIL TAYLOR advised top darts players to treat Luke Littler like a “school bully” if they want to beat him.
Littler defended his Grand Slam of Darts title on Sunday, defeating Luke Humphries 16-11 in a thrilling final to remain unbeaten in the competition.
By reaching the final, Littler leapfrogged Humphries to become the youngest ever world No1, within two years of first turning professional.
The achievement prompted Humphries to acknowledge that the duo are a level above the rest of the players on the PDC tour at the moment.
Sixteen-time world champion Taylor agreed with the assessment, telling talkSPORT: “They are at the minute. That is 100 per cent.
“The other players now, they’ve got to start changing something. They’ve got to either change their darts or change something to make themselves a better player.”
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But on top of levelling up their general game, ‘the Power‘ had some advice for players on how best to try and challenge the teenage sensation.
He continued: “I’ve noticed Luke [Littler] is a slow starter sometimes and that’s when you’ve got to get him.
“I was with Nathan Aspinall and Chris Dobey this morning, I said ‘look if you want to get him, you’ve got to get him early doors and then you’ve got to keep him under pressure’ That’s the only way to beat young Luke.”
Littler endured slow starts in his quarters, semis and final appearances at the Grand Slam, going behind in all three.
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But he rallied to victory in each of them, defeating Josh Rock and Danny Noppert before reaching his final with ‘Cool Hand Luke’.
When pressed on whether these slow starts could be a weakness, Taylor said: “I’d say the first five minutes. I mean, he’s 5-0 down the other night and he came back.
“You’ve got to keep him under pressure because I think what people are doing, they’re getting in front and then they’re getting nervous thinking, ‘oh, I’ve got a chance here of beating young Luke.’
“I used to treat him as if it was a school bully, right? I’m gonna start hitting you back and see if you like it.
“So that’s what they’ve got to do. It’s a lot easier to talk about than just doing it, but they’ve got to do it.”
Despite revealing this method of trying to put the teen off his game, Taylor revealed to SunSport that he would not be surprised to see Littler emulate his dominance in the sport.
He said: “The rest of them, now they have got to start figuring out how to beat this young man. Because if not, he’ll dominate like I did for a while.
“How long? At least ten years, I reckon. He can dominate as long as he wants to. Unless anybody else comes through and pushes him.
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“Luke will have his ups and downs, though. He’ll have days when he isn’t quite on form.
“But nine times out of ten, he’ll be on form. He’s just got it, hasn’t he? He’s got the talent.”
