Teenage darts sensation Luke Littler has left the sport in awe after claiming his second consecutive World Matchplay title, defeating Gerwyn Price 18-9 in Blackpool. Nicknamed “The Nuke,” Littler’s commanding performance has reignited discussions about whether any competitor can truly challenge his supremacy in the sport.
Littler’s dominance is becoming increasingly evident. Having secured every PDC major title in 2026, his latest triumph at the World Matchplay underscores his status as the standout player of his generation.
His extraordinary run has sparked widespread debate about his place in the broader sporting landscape. On the Sky Sports’ Love The Darts podcast, former player Laura Turner and commentator Chris Murphy weighed in on whether Littler is currently the most dominant athlete across all sports.
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“It’s a very difficult question, how do you measure dominance?” Murphy said. “Darts seems to have more majors than any other sport, if you’re doing it on major titles, but then again if you just took the top four and made it fair, he wins what you might call the Grand Slam titles.
“He holds them all and he’s on course to have a clean sweep of every title so of course he does. I think yes [he is the most dominant].”
Murphy then named two other sporting stars that come close to giving Littler a run for his money – tennis world No 1 Jannik Sinner and his golf equivalent, Scottie Scheffler – but concluded neither can touch him.
“Looking at other sports, we’ve mentioned tennis, Sinner maybe he’s in the conversation,” he said. “Scheffler in golf has been No 1 for a long time, but I don’t think any of them get near Littler.”
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Turner agreed, highlighting the rarity of having two English athletes dominating their respective disciplines simultaneously.
“It’s very hard to say no [he isn’t the most dominant] isn’t it,” Turner said. “From a women’s darts point of view actually I think [Women’s World Matchplay winner] Beau Greaves is unbelievably dominant, she’s just picked up the Matchplay in Blackpool. She won 17 out of the 24 titles available in that qualification process as well.
“She’s been on a run of 114 consecutive wins, it took Fallon [Sherrock] at a 102 average just to stop that run. Beau is very dominant.
“In darts at the moment I personally think we’re very lucky, I know Beau is on the Pro Tour as well. I can’t think of another sport where at this moment in time, anyone that is dominating in the way they are.”
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Does Littler Edge Taylor as Darts’ Greatest?
While Turner and Murphy have been thoroughly impressed by Littler’s recent form, they believe the teenager still has some way to go before being considered the greatest darts player of all time.
When asked if Littler is the best darts player ever, Murphy replied: “No, and this is where I think we need to zoom out a little bit. Potential to best the greatest? Possibly, but I don’t think it’s especially close yet to be honest.
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“It’s not criticism of his abilities and talents, it’s just simple arithmetic I suppose. Phil Taylor’s title tally, 16 world titles, spanning across four different generations of darts players, and he’s had to reinvent himself for different games in different eras.”
Taylor, who retired in 2018, holds the record for the most darts world titles. Littler, meanwhile, has two, winning the PDC World Darts Championship in 2025 and 2026 after bursting onto the scene in 2024.
Laura agreed that Littler has a way to go yet to edge Taylor, adding: “All of us suffer from recency bias. There’s a lot of people don’t forget that never engaged in darts to the level they are before Luke Littler came onto the scene.
Darts icon Phil Taylor was Luke Littler’s idol growing up
“Ultimately, Phil has played through different generations, I don’t want to say mind games but you know you can get under people’s skin a bit more.
“Ability wise, and all the accolades he has won over all those years, you have to say Phil is the greatest ever darts player we’ve had.
“Luke Littler perhaps one of the most dominant sports people at this time.”
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