Recently-retired Darts star Vincent van der Voort has defended Luke Littler and Luke Humphries’ stance on the possibility of ruling themselves out of every Players Championship event next year. The duo are regulars in the tournaments and often face each other in the latter stages.

Littler won his first title with an 11-8 victory over Nathan Aspinall last month after previously losing to Humphries in the final last year. The 18-year-old goes into this week’s World Darts Championship as world number one and the heavy favourite to reign supreme at Ally Pally.

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Despite his win in Minehead, Littler has recently admitted he “hates” playing in Pro Tour events. “Everyone knows I hate the Pro Tours,” he said. “All you hear is squeaky chairs and people chatting. I love the stage, I love producing it, especially when I’m playing like that.”

Humphries has also stunned fans with his latest revelation that he is considering dropping out of most PDC Pro Tour’s in 2026 to stay fresh for the major tournaments. “I’ve been thinking about not playing any Players Championships next year, to be honest,” the 30-year-old admitted.

“Like, giving the whole tour a miss because it’s so busy and you have to prioritise what you want to do. I’ll see how I feel. It’s 34 weeks, 34 days of darts. I might just give it a go at the start and if it doesn’t go my way, then maybe just give it a miss and focus on everything else.

“Obviously it’s a busy lifestyle – not too busy.” He added: “It’s not like I’m moaning. It just might be my decision to spend those 34 days at home and miss one big tournament to sacrifice it.

“I’ll see how it goes. I do enjoy playing the ProTour still, a little bit, but it’s hard. When you’re on the big stage I play my best. When I’m on the floor, I just don’t – so it’s harder for me.”

Speaking to Online Darts, Van Der Voort has defended Littler and Humphries by admitting the darts calender is excessive. “I get the commercial side of it. The PDC is a commercial company; they want to make money,” he said.

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“But if Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price say they don’t want to play in the pro tours anymore, they’re going to change the system because then ITV will say they aren’t going to broadcast them anymore. It’s as simple as that.

“Yeah, I get it (Littler and Humphries’ stance). The calendar is so busy, they have to pick and choose. But also in the back of your mind, you have to make sure that you guarantee to play in the Players Championships Finals. Michael didn’t last year and a guy with his standards, that’s really bad.

“I don’t want to use the words ‘ashamed of himself’, but a little bit like that. He should be in the finals; it’s a big tournament. He should be there.”