Wayne Mardle commends Luke Littler’s reaction to “petulant” Ricardo Pietreczko
Mardle has his say (Photo by Taylor Lanning/PDC)
Wayne Mardle has commended Luke Littler’s reaction to being confronted by Ricardo Pietreczko following their semi-final at the Belgian Darts Open.
Littler stormed to a 7-3 victory over Pietreczko in the season’s first European Tour event in Wieze on Sunday, going on to clinch the title with the aid of a sensational nine-darter in the final.
An irate Pietreczko confronted Littler at the end of their contest after being seemingly unimpressed by the 17-year-old’s unconventional checkout routes.
The German posted on his Instagram story shortly after the match: ‘So I appreciate him a lot that you can play such a game at such an age but I hope the arrogance punishes him.’
Littler has shrugged off the incident, admitting he has become every player’s “cup final” after taking the sport by storm over the past three months.
Sky Sports pundit Mardle has praised Littler’s immediate response to the incident and says Pietreczko’s behaviour is not out of the ordinary.
“I’ve got to be careful here because I’ve got to hold my tongue,” Mardle told Sky Sports. “Pietreczko has got previous, he’s done this four or five times now.
“When he gets beaten, he doesn’t like it.
“He normally acts in a pretty petulant way, and to be honest, this is kind of expected.
“But what wasn’t expected was the reaction from Luke, he was like ‘I couldn’t care less, get off my stage’.
“Luke Littler has got this constitution that he’s relaxed and focused when he has to be.
“He enjoys the crowd and the interaction with them. He enjoys the game and the pressure. All this and he’s just 17.”
Pietreczko, who claimed his first PDC ranking title on the European Tour last year, notably became embroiled with the crowd at the Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton in November.
Mardle believes the German’s conduct against Littler may have boiled down to ‘jealousy’ over the teenager’s rapid rise to stardom.
He added: “Ricardo Pietreczko is one of those, and Luke’s going to get this, there’s going to be jealousy for the things that come his way – the sponsorships, the endorsements, the money, the fame, the media attention.
“Some think they deserve it more than Luke. Whether they do or not, is absolutely irrelevant.
“The likes of Pietreczko couldn’t rattle him. You can’t rattle Littler, and that in itself is rattling.”
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