Darts news: Five things we learned from the Grand Slam as Luke Littler retains the Eric Bristow Trophy
The Grand Slam of Darts concluded on Sunday, November 16, after a week of darting drama.
Predictably, Luke Littler continued his dominance of professional darts, winning the Grand Slam for the second year in a row.
But what did we learn from the week of darts in Wolverhampton? Sports News Blitz writer Joseph Ould gives his thoughts.
Littler reaches world number one
After his victory in the semi-final of the tournament, Littler claimed his place atop the PDC World Rankings, overtaking Luke Humphries who had held the number one spot for 683 days.
Littler’s rise to the top has been achieved at record speed, having only made his professional debut less than two years ago, at the 2023 World Darts Championship.
The astronomical rise of Littler has seen the teenage sensation amass £1.85million in earnings over the last two years.
Phil Taylor currently holds the record for the number of days spent at the top of the PDC World Rankings - a whopping 3343 days.
Littler has some way to go if he wishes to surpass Taylor, but at just 18-years-old, you wouldn’t put it past the Warrington wonderkid.
Noppert for the Premier League?
The Dutch number two, Danny Noppert, continued his string of strong performances in 2025 with a run to the semi-final where he was defeated by eventual winner, Littler.
Noppert’s Grand Slam run saw him meet fellow Dutchman Michael van Gerwen in the round of 16, defeating the three-time world champion 10-6.
Since 2022, Noppert has remained a constant figure in the world’s top 16 and will be hoping for another impressive showing in next month's World Championship.
Currently ranked as world number seven, Noppert’s consistent performances have put the 34-year-old in conversations for the 2026 Premier League.
Better from Bully Boy
In 2023, Michael Smith achieved his ultimate darting dream, winning the World Championship at Alexandra Palace.
Since then however, Smith has experienced a catastrophic loss of form as well as suffering wrist, shoulder and foot injuries, accompanied with battling arthritis.
All of this has resulted in ‘Bully Boy’ losing his Premier League spot and sliding all the way to 28th in the world rankings.
After a torrid 2025, in which he has had 19 first-round exits in tournaments, not many people could have foreseen Smith’s fortune changing in the Grand Slam, not least when he was drawn in a group featuring Humphries and Nathan Aspinall.
Despite this, group-stage victories over Aspinall and Alex Spellman saw Smith progress to the round of 16, where he was victorious in a thriller over Chris Dobey.
Smith ultimately bowed out of the competition in the quarter-final stage, losing to Humphries.
‘Bully Boy’ will be hoping this Grand Slam run can be the catalyst for more positive things going forward.
The underachievers
Often tipped as a dark horse at major darts championships, Jonny Clayton disappointed with his performance in this year's Grand Slam.
‘The Ferret’ finished bottom of group H, with surprise package Lukas Wenig topping the group.
Aspinall also failed to qualify from his group.
‘The Asp’ faced off against two former world champions in group A, in the form of Humphries and Smith but was still expected to qualify with Smith not in good form heading into the competition.
Perhaps the biggest underperformer of all was Stephen Bunting, with ‘The Bullet’ failing to win a single game.
The world number four lost to Luke Woodhouse (ranked 24), Martin Schindler (ranked 15) and Alexis Toylo, who was only at the tournament due to PDC Asian champion, Lourence Ilagan, unable to compete.
Bunting will be hopeful of a far better showing in the World Championship next month.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Ella Stevens and Ella Häkkinen join McLaren Driver Development Programme
The Luke’s dominate again
Another tournament, another final contested between Littler and Humphries.
The two seem set to dominate darts for the foreseeable with no other competitor near their level.
Including this past weekend, the pair have met in seven major televised finals.
After Littler defeated Humphries 16-11 to retain the Eric Bristow Trophy, the 18-year-old declared himself as “the best in the world.”
Humphries will look to reclaim his spot on top of the world next month, when the World Championship gets underway.
