Luke Littler has issued another message to darts bosses complaining about the quick turnaround from Premier League darts to the Euro Tour after he was knocked out in the first round of the Baltic Sea Darts Open.
The 17-year-old lost to Michael van Gerwen in the semi-finals of the 15th Premier League night of the season on Thursday before he travelled to Germany the following day for the start of the Baltic Sea Darts Open.
As an unseeded player, Littler entered the competition in the first round and was drawn against world No 97 Wessel Nijman.
And the Dutch player pulled off an unlikely 6-3 win to dump Littler out of the competition.
Luke Littler was not happy about his lack of sleep
REUTERS
Littler congratulated his opponent on the win, who lost to Van Gerwen in the next round, but claimed he had just a few hours sleep before the match.
He wrote on social media: "Can't expect to play my best darts on four hours sleep.
"Premier League to Euro Tour is gruelling.
"Well played Wessel. See you all Thursday."
Littler had raised similar complaints earlier in the week about the difficulty of competing on the Euro Tour.
He said: “It’s very tough. We are coming home after whatever Premier League, waking up at stupid o'clock to go to a Euro Tour.
"If I win on the Friday and Saturday I can focus then on the Sunday.
“I didn’t realise how big darts was in multiple countries. I only found that out after the Worlds.
“It’s breathtaking travelling to all these places. I’ve learnt a lot over the first four or five months of the season. I now know what else is coming.
Luke Littler has had his schedule managed this year
REUTERS
“I’ll just relax myself and then the Euro Tour. But I won’t burn myself out.”
Littler has been able to manage his schedule so far and skipped the Players Championship in March with Professional Darts Corporation chief executive Matt Porter admitting the teenager's timetable was being monitored carefully.
Porter said earlier this year: “The media demands are high, still getting a lot of requests for high-end content.
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Luke Littler lost to Michael van Gerwen in the Premier League last week
REUTERS
"We saw him on The Jonathan Ross Show, he's doing Comic Relief, there are a lot of A-list people that want to speak to Luke which is great for him and great for darts and it's important that is managed properly.
“His manager Martin (Foulds) is excellent, his family are very supportive, we're involved and it's a team effort really just to make sure everything is geared around giving him the optimal opportunity to be the best he can on the oche and just get enough rest and time to himself to be a normal 17-year-old as best he can away from that.
“It's early days, it's hard to think we're only three months into the Luke Littler story but who knows how long it might last?”