Josh Rock believes it’s now a matter of when, not if, Luke Littler sits atop the world rankings.
Littler overcame Rock – and an emergency dental procedure – to take out the Flanders Darts Trophy on Sunday.
The 8-7 scoreline propelled Littler to his fourth title on the European Tour this year, although it wasn’t enough to unseat Luke Humphries from the top of the rankings.
Rock’s verdict on Littler’s world ranking hopes
However, Rock is adamant that won’t be the case for much longer.
“That performance is why he (Littler) is going to be No.1 soon and that’s why he is the world champion,” Rock said.
“I’m always really hard on myself, maybe I should have been better but I’m happy with my performance.
“When you go to a last leg decider with the world champion, you have to try and give it your all.
“We move on. It’s always a learning curve.”
Littler battled back from a 4-1 deficit to beat Rock, making it two wins from two against the Northern Irishman.
It was an enthralling, high-level contest between the pair as they combined to throw 17 maximums.
Although Rock had the edge in checkouts, making 46.67 per cent of his, Littler ultimately hit the doubles when it mattered and boasted a staggering average of 107.40.
Despite his success in Antwerp, Littler remains some way off incumbent world No. 1 Humphries.
How are the world rankings calculated?
The PDC’s world rankings are determined via prize money won by players at ranking tournaments over a two-year period.
At present, Humphries has £1,782,750 to his name, which is £249,750 more than what Littler has banked in tournament winnings.
However, Littler is in his second year of being a PDC Tour Card holder.
Meanwhile, Humphries goes into each event defending the prize money he collected in 2023.
It places Humphries at risk of being caught up by Littler given ‘The Nuke’ can only earn money at this stage.
For example, at this year’s World Matchplay, Humphries lost £40,000 given he reached the semi-finals there in 2023 and took home £50,000 but bowed out in the first round of this year’s tournament with only £10,000 in his pocket.
Littler, for the first time in his career, was the last man standing in Blackpool and won £200,000 for his troubles.
Littler’s verdict on the race to become world No. 1
Although Littler is doing all he can to chase down Humphries and achieve one of the very few feats he is yet to tick off in his trophy-laden career, he knows there’s plenty of time to make it happen.
“I’ve looked at the rankings, provisional number one for the worlds if Luke doesn’t defend all that prize money, obviously I don’t want him to,” Littler said in July.
“I’d love to be number one, but we’ll just have to find out.
“For myself, just try and add more money to my rankings.”