Luke Littler’s rival Ricardo Pietreczko withdrew from his opening-round Players Championship clash with Jeffrey de Zwaan, lasting just two legs before conceding a walkover.
The German number two was averaging below 60 points when he pulled out of the event.
No official explanation has been provided for the early exit, though German commentator Fabian Dippold pointed to dartitis as the likely cause.
Dartitis is a psychological condition that impacts players’ ability to release the dart smoothly.
Ricardo Pietreczko has withdrawn from a match after just two legs
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Pietreczko’s troubles began before his withdrawal, having suffered a 6-4 defeat to fellow German Kai Gotthardt just 24 hours earlier with an average of only 80.46 points.
Reports indicate that the German has been battling issues with his throwing action since the European Tour event in Munich.
In response to these difficulties, he has experimented with changes to both his grip and release technique.
His last match abandonment came in 2024, though on that occasion, wrist pain hindered his contest.
Pietreczko exited the match, averaging less than 60
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The timing of Pietreczko’s struggles raises concerns ahead of the World Cup of Darts, where he is scheduled to represent Germany alongside Martin Schindler in six weeks.
Pietreczko first came to widespread attention following a heated confrontation with Luke Littler at the 2024 Belgian Darts Open semi-final, where the teenage sensation defeated him 7-3.
The German approached Littler aggressively after the match, nearly clashing heads with the then 17-year-old in a tense exchange.
Littler later wrote on a darts Facebook group: “No idea what I did wrong, no idea what he said. He said something then don’t do it again.”
Littler previously had a bust-up with the German
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Pietreczko subsequently branded the Warrington star arrogant on social media.
The pair have met twice in competition, with Littler emerging victorious on both occasions.
The world number one recently revealed that he has modified his Instagram privacy settings to shield himself from online trolls.
The 19-year-old, who manages his own social media presence, regularly shares darts and football-related content with his followers.
Littler recently revealed that he has modified his Instagram privacy settings
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His online following has exploded since bursting onto the scene at the PDC World Darts Championship in December 2023, when he had just 4,000 Instagram followers.
That figure has now soared to over two million as the two-time world champion’s profile has reached global proportions.
Instagram allows users to disable commenting on posts, a feature Littler activated some time ago to reduce the volume of responses flooding his phone.
The setting also helped him avoid considerable negativity following his on-stage altercation with Dutch opponent Van Veen at the Premier League event in Manchester on April 2.
