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Why are Littler and FIVE former world champs including Humphries & Van Gerwen not playing in Austrian Darts Open 2025?
SIX current or former world champions miss the Austrian Darts Open
LUKE LITTLER and other top Order of Merit players will MISS the Austrian Open this weekend.
Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen went deep into last weekend's German Darts Grand Prix, with Van Gerwen winning the tournament.
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The Nuke had his weekend ended in the semi-final by former youth rival and eventual runner-up Gian van Veen, changing his darts in the process of going 3-0 down at one point to Van Veen.
Luke Humphries would have gone into last weekend as defending champion, but after beating Van Gerwen 8-1 in the 2024 final, opted not to participate in the action.
Teenage sensation Littler and Van Gerwen faced off in the quarter-final of Premier League Darts night 12, with Littler throwing away a 4-0 lead to lose 6-5 to The Green Machine.
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'Cool Hand' Luke Humphries went on a run to the final himself, but was beaten by Gerwyn Price, who picked up his third nightly win, with Iceman Price also MISSING the Austrian Darts Open.
Why is Luke Littler not playing in the Austrian Darts Open?
Luke Littler has not confirmed why he is missing the tournament, but his recent interviews and social media activity suggest he will miss the tournament due to fatigue.
He is second in the Order of Merit, but his position in the World Cup is looking unlikely, with Stephen Bunting likely to step in if he misses out.
The teenage sensation was knocked out in the semi-final of the German Grand Prix by Gian van Veen last weekend, and following defeat suggested he should not have even been there.
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Why are Luke Humphries and Michael van Gerwen not playing the Austrian Darts Open 2025?
World No 1 Luke Humphries opted to miss last weekend's action in Germany, and now misses Austria, due to the jampacked darting schedule.
Humphries recently revealed he sees darts as a "chore" at times, and said he feels "emotionless" at the oche, threatening to become robotic.
Michael van Gerwen has already revealed he will miss the World Cup of Darts, as he is on holiday, and has not registered for the Austria Darts Open.
Classy Luke Littler celebrates with Gerwyn Price as Welshman hits incredible nine-darter to bag £30k gold darts
The issue for Van Gerwen, Humphries and Littler is that their Premier League Darts commitments saw them in Liverpool on night 12 just one night before the event.
Historically, the Austrian Darts Open has been a difficult event for English players to get to, as travelling to Premstätten requires a stopover.
Top players have already voiced issues with the schedule, so a long commute is far from what stars such as Littler and Humphries suffering fatigue need.
Which other former World Champions are missing the event?
Alongside Humphries, Littler and Van Gerwen, there are three other former world champions, who would likely appear, that are missing.
Gerwyn Price won night 12 of Premier League Darts, and the World Darts Championship in 2020, but will miss Austria.
Fellow Premier League star Rob Cross will also miss Austria, having won the World Darts Championship back in 2018.
Stephen Bunting has now overtaken Cross in the Order of Merit and is now fourth, with Bunting set to compete in Austria.
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Two-time and back-to-back World Darts Championship winner in 2015 and 2016 Gary Anderson has been a regular in European events, but will not appear in Austria.
Price and Cross, like Humphries, Littler and Van Gerwen were in Liverpool for Premier League Darts, making travelling over almost impossible.
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