Darts sensation Luke Littler has opened up on his relationship with his new girlfriend Faith during his trip Down Under.
The 18-year-old revealed that ahead of the Australian Masters, his girlfriend chose to travel with him while his parents didn’t make the journey.
It was another successful trip for the Englishman as he claimed victory.
Littler took on Mike De Decker in the final, winning 8-4, and afterwards, Littler sat down for a candid interview.
Talking to DartStream Live, Littler praised Faith for making the effort to fly to the other side of the world.
He said: “I knew my mum and dad weren’t coming, and that was tough
“But I’ve got Faith with me now. She’s an amazing woman. As soon as I asked her, she said yes.
“I don’t think she thought she’d ever get the chance, so I told her she could come with me.”
The teenager’s rise to fame has been quite extraordinary over the last couple of years since making the PDC World Darts Championship final as a 16-year-old.
He is constantly in the media spotlight now, and Littler has been speaking about that as well.
“It’s been tough. At the start of last year, I was always looking at the comments online, and she’s been looking at them too.
“There’s negativity, but I just tell her they’re jealous and want to ruin us. I tell her not to look at it, just to focus on what we’ve got.”
It is interesting that Littler has been so candid and opened up on the struggles he and Faith have been through.
There isn’t a day goes by that Littler isn’t in the papers.
Despite it clearly impacting him away from the oche, it is yet to leak into his on-stage performances, with the 18-year-old winning the majority of competitions he’s taken part in.
He became the youngest player in history to win the Triple Crown when he claimed victory in the World Matchplay in July.
But the increased media pressure was something Gary Anderson warned about in 2023.
Speaking to the assembled press, Anderson said: I’m going to say this now, we had another youngster called Josh Rock that all you press and everything else have absolutely destroyed.
“So if it ever goes t*** up with Luke, then give yourselves a pat on the back, because that’s the way it’s going. Let the boy play darts.
“I’ve been downstairs today, he’s had cameras, zoom calls, Sky meetings. Let the boy play darts.
“He’s had a great tournament, he’s done well, but what happens if it goes Pete Tong now? You boys have ruined it, haven’t you?
“So let the boy play darts, he’s 16-years-old, playing well, and just like Josh Rock, a fantastic player, but you’ve knocked him back by two or three years.”
There have been no signs of similar happening to Littler.
But what this interview shows is that the online comments do have an impact.