James Wade’s raised eyebrow at Luke Littler’s heroics went viral on social media as the darts icon was dumped out of the UK Open. Littler got revenge for his previous defeat by Wade in February at the Players Championship as he stormed into the fifth round of the competition with a 10-7 victory.
The 17-year-old averaged nearly 102 and had four 100-plus finishes, including a ‘Big Fish’ 170 checkout which left Wade flabbergasted. Littler took the seventh leg in spectacular fashion, going out on 170 and then celebrated with a trademark fishing reel to the crowd and his opponent.
However, it was Wade’s reaction that got the fans talking as he raised his eyebrow in surprise at Littler’s celebration and huge checkout. When footage of the leg was posted to social media, @jordandavies09 on X (formerly known as Twitter) was one of many to suggest: “Best darts clip of all time don’t even care.”
While @oli_h7 had a stern message for Littler as they wrote: “No need to do that against the goat,” before @will_hcafc_ hoped that Wade would follow Littler’s suit as he launched an imaginary fishing rod towards the world No. 20: “I’d love to see someone act as a fish when someone hits a 170 against them, just once. #UKOpenDarts.”
Wade could have joined in the moment and may have been more inclined to do so had a lesser player made a 170 against him, but he knows that Littler will have many more highlights of the same vein and instead opted for his iconic reaction.
But despite the deadpan reaction, Wade will undoubtedly have been impressed by the checkout. Perhaps less so with the celebration but would have expected showman Littler to gesture to the crowd.
Littler dazzled once again against Wade to reach the last 32 of the UK Open, setting up a fifth-round tie against Martin Schindler. He has been installed as the new favourite to win the competition after Michael van Gerwen suffered a surprise defeat to Mensur Suljovic as he appeared to struggle with an elbow injury.
“I have not even thought about it,” Littler said when asked about the prospect of listing a first PDC Tour major title. “But I know if my game is there every match then I don’t see why I can’t win it. I don’t mind who I play. It is what I dreamed of, playing in front of thousands every week, I just take it in my stride.”
Littler also responded to recent comments made by Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp as “another day in my life” after the German manager compared his young Carabao Cup heroes to the teenage sensation.
Littler, a staunch Manchester United fan, replied: “I actually watched the final and the young lads are doing well, but if he wants to compare them to me then he can. I actually woke up and someone told me that he compared me to his young lads, so I went online and watched the video. I gave it a like and went on to the next video. That was literally another day in my life.”
