Emma Raducanu wants to meet 17-year-old darting sensation Luke Littler after similar sudden rise to fame

Emma Raducanu will begin her Australian Open campaign in the early hours of Tuesday morning and perhaps she can take some inspiration from a certain 17-year-old darting prodigy Luke Littler.

Littler like Raducanu but on a slightly smaller scale became an overnight phenomenon this time last year when he reached the PDC World Darts Championship Final and came second in BBC Sports Personality of the Year also this year.

But he won the ultimate prize during the last tournament and is now a World Champion, the youngest ever at 17 as millions were captivated by his story including Raducanu who said that she wants to meet the sporting sensation and she wants to gleam knowledge from him.

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"Amazing respect to him, going out and backing it up and winning the title. It’s difficult."

"Big time. I’d love to meet any top athletes who have succeeded in their fields.

"Darts is such a precision sport, I’d be so interested to hear what he had to say about it, how he stays focused, because you can be so close but not necessarily execute the final shot. In that sense, it’s similar to tennis."

While she has also given him some advice on how to deal with the sudden rise of fame and the price of it so to speak as she has felt with constant scrutiny, being stalked and going from a teenager in Bromley to a courted individual.

"Not much prepares you for that, you feel like you’re constantly on edge because you’re being followed.

"But I think the biggest part is the judgment and the comments about every single decision that you make.

"That for me was really difficult to deal with, to try and desensitise myself to it and just understand that it comes with the territory you’re in."

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