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Wade booked his place in the last 16 of the PDC World Masters on Friday, digging deep to defeat Mike De Decker 3-2 at Milton Keynes’ Marshall Arena.
The 41-year-old was understandably pleased with his performance, which came just weeks after his disappointing second-round elimination at the World Darts Championship.
However, it was Wade’s comments after his win which really caused a stir among darts fans, with ‘The Machine’ taking aim at both Humphries and world champion Luke Littler – his last-16 opponent – for their apparent laziness.
‘I don’t believe anyone is amazing apart from probably Luke and Luke and, after that, they can be quite lazy,’ he said after downing De Decker.
‘They’re not Phil Taylors, they’re not Michael van Gerwens at their best, but they are phenomenal players.
‘But there’s gaps in the market and it is what it is.’
Looking to put his last-16 exit at the World Darts Championship behind him, Humphries booked his spot in the Masters quarter-finals with an emphatic 4-0 victory over Josh Rock this afternoon.
Speaking shortly after the one-sided whitewash, ‘Cool Hand’ appeared to bite back over the comments made by Wade, underlining his professionalism on tour and unwavering desire to better himself.
‘I’m searching for something better,’ Humphries – the 2024 world champion – told reporters.
‘I’m really happy with my performances over the last 18 months, I’ve been really good, but if you’re going to keep up you’ve got to get better and I want to set the standard.
‘There’s no player that works harder than me. Yesterday, I was the only player here practicing because I want to be performing at the highest level.
‘I want to challenge Luke [Littler], Michael [van Gerwen and Gezzy [Gerwyn Pryce], I don’t want it to phase out and not to aspire to something great.
‘I’m working incredibly hard and …
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