World champion Luke Humphries has vowed to ignore the haters following his UK Open final defeat to Dimitri Van den Bergh in Minehead on Sunday.
Humphries missed match darts in the deciding leg of the final in Minehead to claim what would have been a fifth major ranking title out of the last six.
One of those was his World Championship win at the start of 2024, but despite such dominance which has seen him outperform Michael van Gerwen, Michael Smith and Luke Littler, ‘Cool Hand’ still has to prove people wrong.
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Michael Smith and Humphries were both clearly angered by repeated whistling during their Premier League matches against Luke Littler in Cardiff
Humphries, who returns to action aiming to record his first nightly win in this year’s betMGM Premier League Darts in Brighton on Thursday, says he is still navigating the spotlight and the attention it brings.
“It is silly from me because I am the one that is allowing it to happen,” the 29-year-old Newbury thrower said.
“You’ll always have it, if I go three months without winning I will have people on my back.
“I feel like a couple of weeks ago everyone was saying I was the worst ever world champion, I was falling off, I am rubbish and I always come back out and prove people wrong.
“I know I didn’t win. I proved again that I might not be the best player in the world, but I am one of the best.
“For me it is all about learning, I am new to having this stardom of being the world champion and world number one, but I did prove everyone wrong.
“I had a great tournament, these are really tough weeks. I will keep working hard and keep going, there’s plenty more majors to win.
“It gets to the point where you just have to accept that everyone is not going to like you or believe in you.
“If you and your family believes in you then I don’t think anyone else matters, they all do and I believe in myself.
“I don’t want to throw it all away by putting too much pressure on myself, I know there is plenty out there for me in the future.”
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Humphries admits he considered giving up darts due to his mental health struggles in the past
Where does the Premier League head next?
Michael van Gerwen is the seven-time Premier League champion
The Premier League continues in Brighton, as league leader Van Gerwen takes on Night Five runner-up Rob Cross in a battle of the former world champions.
Nathan Aspinall faces Littler in another eye-catching showdown, Humphries meets Gerwyn Price in a repeat of last year’s World Grand Prix final, while Smith plays Peter Wright.
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Humphries is determined to stay as world No 1 for as long as possible
Anthony Joshua’s heavyweight showdown with Francis Ngannou takes place on Friday March 8, live on Sky Sports Box Office with the main event expected around 11pm. Book Joshua vs Ngannou now!
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Premier League Darts continues on Sky Sports on Thursday, March 7 with The Brighton Centre the next stop on the 17-week extravaganza all the way through to the Play-Offs at the O2 Arena in London on Thursday, May 23. Stream Sky Sports Darts without a contract through NOW