After progressing through to the quarter-finals of the World Matchplay where he will face Ross Smith, James Wade had a ‘warning’ for Luke Littler and darts fans.
It’s been quite a week for James Wade so far.
He’s in his 19th consecutive World Matchplay which is a record and he only just made it into the competition as the final qualifying position.
So far, he’s beaten Danny Noppert 10-5 and Nathan Aspinall 11-8 to progress to the quarter-finals where he’ll meet Ross Smith.
The 2007 Matchplay champion is grabbing our attention for his performances on the oche but more so it’s his comments away from the oche…
His post-game interviews have been nothing short of entertaining.
On Sunday evening he had a mini rant over “a group of players that are looked after very, very well” which caught a lot of attention.
^^ If you’ve not see this yet, check it out here 👉James Wade’s unexpected RANT at World Matchplay
He followed that up yesterday as he made sure to point out on multiple occasions that he has nothing to prove to anyone and has “won more than everyone except Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen”.
That wasn’t all though. He also had a warning message for rising star Luke Littler…
James Wade Warns Luke Littler That “He WILL Have a Downturn“
James Wade often speaks fondly of Luke Littler and has previously stated that “Luke Littler is the Tiger Woods of darts” in reference to the new fans and money that he has brought to the game.
Away from the oche is one thing but Wade is interested in seeing what will happen once Luke Littler has a downturn in form.
“He will have a downturn, 100% it will happen.” Wade stated.
“But, what I want to see is rather than the UK getting on his back and giving him a hard time, including other dart players, is to support him.
“He will have a downturn, he will struggle, and he will find things hard.
“Then we’ll see what he’s really about.”
This isn’t meant to be negative though as he followed up by saying players like himself are indebted to him for what he’s done for the game so far.
James Wade HOPES players and fans will support LUKE LITTLER | "HE WILL HAVE A DOWNTURN"
— Darts Now (@DartsNow_) July 16, 2024
👏🏼 Great words from Wade as he credits Littler’s phenomenal impact on the sport, and hopes players and fans will get behind him
🎥FULL INT.👇🏼https://t.co/HxWd8IeKUg pic.twitter.com/cezZFPfUHm
Separately from this, Wade also pondered on how much longevity Luke Littler will have in darts.
He had this to say:
“Glen Durrant said it will either be domination for two years or ten years.
“I’m not sure which one it will be and I do actually agree with that.
“Let’s be honest, Luke’s probably earned more money than most darts players, if not all darts players, in a year of his existence.
“So, he doesn’t need to play darts now if he’s careful with money.”
We covered this recently as Glen Durrant said he could see Luke Littler retiring early so we should “enjoy him while he’s here now”.
This comment was based mostly on the money in darts now.
He referenced Phil Taylor and said how he was entering tournaments playing for £10k so that had a big impact on keeping the hunger alive.
He did question that when Luke Littler is a multi-millionaire, how can he keep the same desire going to dominate darts?
It’s been a phenomenal debut season for Luke Littler so it’s understandable that people think his ‘fairy tale’ will end sooner or later but seeing what he’s done so far you just never know…
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