James Wade has dismissed his doubters as “laughable” ahead of his upcoming match with Luke Littler and believes he can still outperform “lazy” rivals.
Wade booked a last-16 tie against Littler after beating World Grand Prix winner Mike De Decker 3-2 in the Milton Keynes tournament on Friday night.
And afterwards Wade, who counts the World Matchplay and Premier League among 10 televised titles won in his career but is currently ranked outside the world’s top 10, hit out at critics who suggest his best days are behind him.
“I still think it’s laughable that people don’t think I can win things, what will be will be,” said Wade.
“I still think I’ll win TV majors and I don’t see any reason why not. After tonight’s performance, not great.
“I don’t believe anyone’s amazing apart from probably the Luke and the Luke [Littler and Humphries] and after that they can be quite lazy.
“They are not Phil Taylors. They are not Michael van Gerwens at their best, but they are phenomenal players. But there are gaps in the market and it is what it is.”
Luke Littler whitewashed Andy Baetens 3-0 to ease through his first round encounter at the World Masters (credit: ITV Sport)
Having played before Littler advanced to the last 16 himself, with the world champion later taking just 10 minutes to dispatch Andy Baetens 3-0, Wade added: “I genuinely put my hand on my heart and don’t really care who I play.
“If I play well, I put up a fight and I do well. Obviously Luke is doing amazingly well, but it’ll be what it’ll be.”
The last of Wade’s televised title wins came at the UK Open in 2021 and the four-time World Championship semi-finalist was dumped out of this year’s tournament at Alexandra Palace in the second round without winning a set by Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena. He lost the year before at the same stage to Canada’s Matt Campbell.
James Wade struggles to find double ten and is dumped out of the World Championships in round one by Jermaine Wattimena.
Wade is currently ranked 15th in the world.
“Very disappointed by my ranking position because I know I’m better than quite a few of them,” said the 41-year-old of players ahead.
“But we’ll see. Talk is cheap and we’ll move onwards and upwards.”
Asked if he had set himself the same target for this year as 2024 of returning to the world’s top 10, Wade admitted: “I have but I failed miserably [last year]. I didn’t get to that point, which was really frustrating.
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“I think I lost to a 98-ish [ranked player] in the World Championships – really, really frustrating. But it is what it is, wasn’t good enough, didn’t do enough.
“A couple of little turns and tides would have been enough but I think 30 other players could have said the same thing. But I believe I’m good enough and I believe that with a little bit of luck the tide will turn.”
Saturday’s last-16 fixtures (best of seven sets)
Afternoon session (from 12.45pm)
- William O’Connor vs Danny Noppert
- Damon Heta vs Gerwyn Price
- Stephen Bunting vs Peter Wright
- Luke Humphries vs Josh Rock
Evening session (from 7pm)
- Luke Littler vs James Wade
- Jonny Clayton vs Ryan Searle
- Michael van Gerwen vs Dimitri Van den Bergh
- Cameron Menzies vs Nathan Aspinall
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