Definitely,” Luke Humphries says when he considers whether he can retain the darts world championship title that changed his life after he beat Luke Littler in a memorable final at the start of this year. “I honestly believe that my time is right now and I can go back-to-back. Of course it’s easy to think it, while to do it is a lot harder. But I believe in myself and the second one is always sweeter than the first because it’s harder to do. You’re achieving greatness once you start winning multiple world championships.”
The usually understated world champion and I sit in a discreet corner of a swanky bar on the Strand in London. We’re deep into the second part of an interview that had been interrupted after 30 minutes so Humphries, Littler and Michael van Gerwen could disappear downstairs to film a segment for a new Netflix documentary. It helps that the crammed bar has finally begun to empty after a long afternoon launch of this year’s world championship, which begins on Sunday. Humphries has been on a chattering treadmill but it’s as if a weight has been lifted when he sits down again, relieved that he won’t have to face another camera or act out a scene for one last plug of the event.