Darts legend John Lowe has leapt to the defence of Luke Littler following his shock opening-round defeat at the World Grand Prix, dismissing the teenager's successive tournament exits as nothing more than a normal setback for a superstar. The three-time world champion took to Facebook to share his thoughts after Littler's title defence ended with a 2-1 loss to Luke Woodhouse in Leicester, which came on the back of a 10-4 quarter-final defeat to Jonny Clayton at the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam.
"Interesting, Luke Littler loses again, two in a row. Wow, no big deal," Lowe wrote. "All superstars have blips. Luke is in that bracket." Littler averaged 82.41 against Woodhouse, taking the opening set before losing the next two, with Woodhouse finishing the match with a two-dart 75 checkout on double 12. "When you set the bar high, then others reach for it," Lowe continued. "If you have an off day, or two, it's inevitable you make big news."
Before arriving in Leicester, Littler had enjoyed a remarkable 2026, winning the World Championship, World Masters, UK Open, Premier League, World Cup and World Matchplay. "Luke Littler has been an inspiration of incredible success to the sport, brought awareness from people never interested," Lowe wrote. The 19-year-old congratulated Woodhouse on Instagram after the defeat, writing that "both hit, both missed but Luke took his chance". He also welcomed a "nice week off now" and wished his opponent well for the remainder of the tournament.
Lowe, who won world titles in 1979, 1987 and 1993, becoming the first player to lift the trophy in three different decades, and made 28 consecutive World Championship appearances, suggested Littler should become more selective about where he plays. "The real fact, so many events, non-stop, they all want the best player to be there. He has so far obliged," Lowe wrote. "Now maybe time to choose the ones that really matter. Get ready, refresh, produce. Not rocket science." He added: "Just me, someone who has been there, someone who had to play in event after event to make a return. Now in today's sport of darts, the rewards are of a high standard."
Lowe left the building trade to become a professional darts player in 1975 and was later among the players who broke away from the BDO to form the World Darts Council, which developed into the PDC, in pursuit of more tournaments and better prize money. In an earlier interview with Darts1, he recalled first prizes of £3,000 at the World Masters and £5,000 at the News of the World during the 1970s, while his first televised nine-darter in 1984 brought an exceptional £102,000 bonus, separate from his tournament winnings. Lowe eventually moved towards the Legends of the Oche exhibition circuit after growing tired of playing qualifiers every weekend, describing more than 125 bookings to fulfil in 2009, with the following year's diary already filling.
