Luke Humphries says he is looking forward to playing darts again (Image: GETTY)
has warned and his rivals that he is “actually looking forward to playing darts again now” following his earlier this month.
The 29-year-old, who defeated Littler in the showpiece match at Alexandra Palace to become world champion at the start of the year, was dumped out in the group stages in Wolverhampton after losing to Rowby-John Rodriguez and James Wade.
He will return to the oche in Minehead for the Players Championship Finals over the next three days after defeating Michael van Gerwen in the final last year.
Ahead of the tournament, Humphries exclusively told Ladbrokes: “I’m feeling good, going back to Minehead as reigning champion, having not really been there in the Grand Slam last week – but unfortunately you can’t win everything.
“You have to accept that early exits from major tournaments are sometimes going to happen – I’m not going to take anything else from that week.
“I’m confident heading into the Ladbrokes Players Championship Finals, and hopefully I can retain that trophy.
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Luke Littler was defeated by Luke Humphries in the World Darts Championship final in January (Image: GETTY)
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“Obviously, I’d have loved to have been in the Grand Slam right until the very end, but I’m treating that early exit as a blessing in disguise really because it’s probably been the longest time I’ve spent at home in the last 15 months.
“I’ve really enjoyed it because I’ve been able to spend some time with my son, who doesn’t get to see his dad all that much at the moment.
“So I’ve fully embraced my time at home, really enjoyed myself. I’m feeling nice and refreshed, and I’m actually looking forward to playing darts again now.
“The last 15 months or so have been a bit of a blur for me, playing pretty much day-in, day-out. But I didn’t pick the darts up for a full week. I put them down and just wanted to take a bit of a break from it. But now I’m refreshed and ready to go again.”
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Humphries will get his Players Championship Finals campaign up and running against Gabriel Clemens this evening and could find himself going up against Littler later in the tournament.
But Cool Hand Luke appears to already have one eye on the World Darts Championship as he added: “Whatever happens this weekend, if you’re not going to win the trophy you’re going to want to put in a good couple of performances to put you in good spirits heading into the World Championships.
“But I know myself, if things don’t go your way in Minehead, it doesn’t mean you won’t win the Worlds. And if it does go your way, it doesn’t mean you will win it. The World Championship is a completely different calibre of tournament to the rest – you have to have a lot of mental strength and technical ability to win a world title.”