Gary Anderson reckons special Luke Littler has lit him up for a fairytale bid.
The Scottish hero is gearing up for a hat-trick bid at the Paddy Power World Championship and faces Jeffrey de Graaf in a Sunday opener. Beforehand, the phenomenal Littler takes to the stage 24 hours earlier with all eyes on the teenage superstar who is breaking boundaries in-and-out of the sport. Anderson and Littler had a classic match at last month’s Grand Slam and, although he lost out 16-15 in a last-leg decider, the two-time champ savoured it.
Just over a decade ago, a narrow Ally Pally defeat to Michael van Gerwen fired him up to go back-to-back at the Worlds and now that Littler epic at the Grand Slam has Anderson’s juices flowing as he gets set for a title tilt. He said: “It really got me going, proper game, four legs up on him, I had to hold my throw once and I made a mess of it.
“Even afterwards, I watched when Luke beat me, you could see the kind of relief in his face, so I went, I’ve pushed you, It’s good, it gives me a wee bit of a buzz and it does kind of give you that twinkle. Little things give me a wee tweak and I need that to keep going. There’s some cracking darts players out there and it’s still nice to be involved playing against them.
“If you look at his games in the semis and the final, it was an old 54-year-old that kind of took him all the way.I like things like that, I like to see, can I still play up to their standard. My finishing that night was great, my scoring wasn’t too good.
“Minehead first round, my doubles were absolutely shocking. If I could have got a bit of that scoring against Luke as well as my finishing, then it might have been a different story. But it was a pleasurable game to play in. I mean, the boy’s good, he’s got something special. You know what? He doesn’t care, does he? He does not care.
“I said how do you explain Luke Littler? I said, if the building went on fire and everyone’s running out screaming hysterically, he would just slant across, pick his coat up, and just saunter out the building.
“He’s so laid back, very quiet lad, but his talent’s through the roof. I’ve played darts in the time with your Phil Taylors, who ruled the world. Then it went onto Van Gerwen, we’ve got Luke Humphries now and I think very shortly we’re going to have young Littler, he’s fantastic. But then we’ve got so many other players.”
Due to the seedings and the draw, Anderson and Littler could meet in the Final on January 3, but the Scot doesn’t look beyond the first game against de Graaf. At this stage, the third title is a long way off, but the Scot has been in cracking form this year and said: “To win a third one? In all honesty, maybe a bit of a fairytale.
“I can take that [two titles] to my box with me, can’t I? It’s been good. I’ve had a cracking career.I never get excited beforehand. It’s, like I say, driving up that hill when you see the palace sitting up there. That’s when it all kicks in.
“I usually go a couple of days before and I’ll head up just to get the feel of the atmosphere in the venue. I used to go and sit and watch boys building the stage. Just get a feel for the place.
“I’ll do the walk-on, don’t care, but as soon as that foot hits that top step, then it all goes kinda: Right. You’re here to do a job, so get on. Once you get on that stage and you start playing in the crowd and that, it automatically switches on.”