Luke Littler's girlfriend, Eloise Milburn, has sent a message of consolation to the darts star after he lost in the final of the Dutch Masters on Saturday.
The 17-year-old boosted his chances of glory with victory over Luke Humphries but was unable to get the better of Michael van Gerwen.
Van Gerwen won 8-6 to secure the prize, with Littler missing out on the second senior title of his career as a result.
While the teenager was in the Netherlands, girlfriend Eloise opted to stay behind and cheer her boyfriend on from afar.
Luke Littler has received a message from girlfriend Eloise Milburn after losing in the final of the Dutch Masters
And Eloise took to Instagram to send a consolation message to Littler after he crashed to defeat.
"Wow, what an amazing standard of a final! Win or lose I'm always so incredibly proud of you," she said.
Eloise watched the match on her television at home.
Littler impressed during the showdown in the Netherlands and, while he didn't win the competition, has continued his rapid rise to prominence.
To beat Humphries, the world No 1, was a statement of intent and suggests the 17-year-old will be capable of rubbing shoulders with the best players in the world in the coming years ahead.
Littler discussed the result after the match and paid tribute to Van Gerwen, saying his rival 'wouldn't miss'.
"I will take the positives from this," he said. "It was an unbelievable game.
"I put Michael under a lot of pressure, but he just wouldn't miss.
"The crowd have been amazing. They wanted Michael to win and I get that, but respect to Michael.
"I cannot wait to go down to Cardiff for the Premier League next week. Hopefully I can continue my good form there."
A delighted Van Gerwen reacted to the match by adding: "Luke Littler will have a bright future ahead of him, we all know that.
"His scoring power is immense. He doesn't care about anything and does his own thing.
"I needed my best performance. To win this trophy and win against Luke Littler in front of the home crowd is amazing."
Meanwhile, both Littler and Eloise have received abuse online over their relationship due to their age gap.
Eloise is four years older than her boyfriend, with the 21-year-old receiving some vile abuse online as a result.
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Luke Littler was proud of his performance despite losing to Michael van Gerwen in the final of the Dutch Masters
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But Littler has made it clear he's undeterred by keyboard warriors and won't let that get in the way of their relationship.
"We knew people would find out [about their relationship] but it started off very bad," he said.
"As the weeks go on [the abuse of Milburn on social media] has been almost forgotten.
"We’ve been talking for a few months now.
"I’ve brung her along to the worlds, got to the final and whatever people say, they can say it.
Luke Littler has the support of girlfriend Eloise Milburn after losing to Michael van Gerwen in Dutch Masters final
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"It’s not going to affect me or my mental strength.
"I’ve got guys doing my Instagram now and they delete it before I see it."
Eloise added: "It was tough to start with. The first day I let it get to me a lot.
"But you learn that as long as the pair of you are happy, that’s all that matters. The people that matter most are supportive of us."
