Luke Humphries believes that clinching back-to-back Paddy Power World Championship titles would represent the best year of his darting life, and seal one of the greatest years of any reigning World Champion to date.
Humphries secured his spot in the third round at Alexandra Palace with a comprehensive opening night victory over Thibault Tricole on December 15, winning nine straight legs to ease past the Frenchman.
The 29-year-old was nowhere near his blistering best against Tricole, although he dominated from the outset to set up a third round showdown against Welshman Nick Kenny.
“Performance wise it wasn’t anywhere near my best,” conceded Humphries, who averaged 90 and converted a 160 checkout midway through the second set.
“As I said in many interviews before I played my game, it’s two different tournaments and all that matters is you win your opening game.
“Now you go into the second half of the tournament, you come back after Christmas and that’s when you can be at your best and really think about being World Champion.”
Humphries secured the title last year with a 7-4 victory over debutant Luke Littler, which kickstarted a dramatic rivalry that has dominated the headlines throughout the entirety of 2024.
No player has won consecutive titles at Alexandra Palace since Gary Anderson in 2016, and Humphries is dreaming of creating another slice of history by going back-to-back on the sport's biggest stage.
Humphries picked up three of the last four major tournaments in the run up to his win at Ally Pally last year, before claiming the sport’s holy grail in January.
The Newbury ace has followed this up with a hat-trick televised titles in 2024, including a successful defence of the Ladbrokes Players Championship Finals last month.
The world number one has not slowed down since lifting the Sid Waddell Trophy, and believes that this year would usurp his 2023 season, if he were to retain the coveted title on January 3.
“I’m incredibly proud [of his year as world champion],” insisted Humphries, priced at 5/2 to retain the title.
“I think for me, it’s probably been one of the better years since Michael Van Gerwen was World Champion to be honest.
“It would be a beautiful way to top off the year by being back-to-back World Champion and it would probably top last year, which I didn’t think I’d even come close to!
"There are five tough games to win before I even worry about though, so I’m just going to worry about the next game first.”
2024/25 Paddy Power World Darts Championship
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
Gerwyn Price v Joe Cullen
Jermaine Wattimena v Peter Wright
Luke Humphries v Nick Kenny
All matches best of seven sets