Luke Littler ranks Scottie Scheffler and Jannik Sinner as ‘greatest player of all time’ – Love The Darts podcast | Arrow News

Hot young athlete Luke Littler has left the world wondering if anyone will come close to him again after winning the World Matchplay Darts on Sunday.

The ‘Nuke’ defeated Blackpool, winning the competition for the second year in a row and defeating their last opponent Gerwyn Price 18-9.

Absolute control in archery competition is nothing new. He has won every major PDC title in 2026 so far, and his World Matchplay performance has made it very hard to argue that he is not head and shoulders above his rivals.

His performance has sparked debate as to where he ranks in the sport, leading the way Sky Sports’ Love The Darts podcast experts, former darts player Laura Turner and darts commentator Chris Murphy, to debate whether he really is the best sportsman in the world right now.

“The most difficult question is, how do you measure governance?” Murphy said. “Darts seems to have more medals than any other sport, if you do it in the big titles, but also if you just take the top four and do it well, you win what you might call Grand Slam titles.

“He’s got them all and he’s got a chance to get all the titles as it is. I think that’s the case. [he is the most dominant].”

Murphy then named two other sports stars who came close to giving Littler a run for his money — tennis world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and his golf equivalent, Scottie Scheffler — but concluded that no one could touch him.

“If we look at other sports, we have talked about tennis, Sinner is probably in the conversation,” he said. “Scheffler in golf has been No. 1 for a long time, but I don’t think any of them come close to Littler.”

Turner agreed, pointing out how rare it is to have two Englishmen in charge of both the men’s and women’s programs at the same time.

“It is very difficult to say no [he isn’t the most dominant] not really,” Turner said. “From a women’s archery perspective actually I think [Women’s World Matchplay winner] Beau Greaves has been incredibly reliable, having just earned a Matchplay at Blackpool. He won 17 of the 24 titles available at that title as well.

“He has run 114 games in a row, Fallon took him [Sherrock] with a rate of 102 to stop that run. Beau is very dominant.

“In archery right now I think we’re very lucky, I know Beau is on the Pro Tour again. I can’t think of another sport out there at this point, anybody who’s managing the way they are.”

Does Littler edge Taylor as the greatest?

While Turner and Murphy have been surprised by Littler this month, they believe the youngster still has some time before he can call himself the greatest.

Asked if he was the best darts player ever, Murphy replied: “No, and that’s where I think we need to slow down. Is it possible to do the best? It’s possible, but I don’t think it’s very close yet to be honest.

“It’s not a criticism of his skills and abilities, I think it’s simple statistics. Phil Taylor’s statistics, 16 world titles, which span four different generations of archers, and he had to reinvent himself in different sports at different times.”

Taylor, who retired in 2018, holds the record for most darts world titles. Littler, on the other hand, has two, winning the PDC World Darts Championship in 2025 and 2026 after bursting onto the scene in 2024.

Laura admitted that Littler still has a way to go to finish Taylor, adding: “We all suffer from a hindsight bias. There are a lot of people who can’t forget that they’ve never been involved in archery to the level they are before Luke Littler came on the scene.

“Finally, Phil has played in different generations, I don’t want to say mind games but you know you can get under people’s skin a little bit.

“Skill wise, and all the awards he’s won over the years, you’d have to say Phil is the greatest darts player we’ve ever had.

“Luka Littler is probably one of the best sports people of our time.”

Who will win this year’s BoyleSports World Grand Prix? World No 1 Luke Littler will be defending his title and you can watch all the action on Sky Sports. Stream darts and other top games NOW.