Luke Littler 'could leave darts in five years' as concerns raised over recent form - 'What's going on?'
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Former darts star Chris Mason has hit out at the media coverage of Luke Littler and fears the teenager could be pushed out of the game in just five years if it continues.
Darts saw its popularity soar little over 12 months ago when Littler, then aged 16, burst onto the scene at the World Darts Championship and went all the way to the final.
His emergence took darts to another level of media coverage with Littler's tournaments followed and covered relentlessly.
But the 17-year-old has also faced some scrutiny along the way from certain sections of the media and Mason feels it has overstepped the mark at times.
Luke Littler has struggled on the big stage in recent events
GettyLittler is well positioned in the world rankings with his performances on the ProTour, which has included five wins in the Players Championship and European Tour.
However, he's struggled on his debut in some of the major ranking events of late.
The 17-year-old lost in the opening round at the World Matchplay back in July and that was followed up by defeats in the first round of the World Grand Prix and European Championship.
And Mason is concerned that some of the media coverage is starting to have an impact on Littler's game.
"All of us have got a duty of care," he told Online Darts.
"You got to protect him. I don't want to see him like Gezzy [Gerwyn Price] or Gary [Anderson] almost disillusioned with the sport because he could come and go in five years and we never see nothing like that again.
"We might not see nothing like that again.
"Three first-round exits in the last three big rankng tournaments, what's going on?
Luke Littler is currently ranked 18th in the world
Getty"Is there something wrong? Is there something that we don't know about? Is he struggling mentally with it?
"Imagine how he feels seeing some of that s****e written about him when him and his partner decided it ain't going to work or whatever... why are people interested anyway?"
He added: "I just really feel for Luke and I worry because he loves darts.
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PA"What he's achieved already is unreal."
Littler will next be in action at the Grand Slam of Darts next week where he has a chance to climb further up the rankings.
He will be among the favourites to go all the way with the likes of Michael van Gerwen, Luke Humphries and Michael Smith.
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