When Alexander the Great was 33, he cried salt tears because there were no more worlds to conquer. Luke Griffiths is only 20.
As darts fans will know, this a line (adapted of course) from the late great Sid Waddell. Yet it’s arguably even more applicable to Luke, as the line was originally said about Eric Bristow, when he was seven years older than the age (20) at which Luke has just become Racketlon World Champion for the third straight year.
He defeated (previous?!) racketlon GOAT (‘greatest of all time’) Jesper Ratzer in the semi-final and World No.1 Sylvain Ternon in the final, both thrilling, epic matches.
The final was a rematch of last year’s quarter-final in the Worlds, where the Brit defeated the Frenchman on a gummi arm. With good weather and around 200 watching for most of the match, it was, safe to say, rather warm – and the action on court was even hotter. Despite their incredible fitness, the players felt it.
Luke said, “It feels amazing. I don’t really have any words. On a normal day, I’d be confident going into tennis with that. I think I played good table tennis. He played really good. My badminton was good but again he played good. My squash was good. It left a good target for me. But then physically I couldn’t keep up.”
“So to then play probably the best tennis this week with physical issues cramping up…there are no words.”
“Under the circumstances, it feels incredible. I had a really tough draw. Having Mustonen in the second match was physically draining. And Ratzer and Ternon in the same day…that’s tough for me. I’m just over the moon. So happy. There’s a karaoke competition tonight and I think GB need some help, so I’ll be there!”
Sylvain, who reached the final after an impressive plus 33 win against German Joerg Kanonenberg, opened up the match with some fantastic, attacking table tennis, taking a 17-10 lead, but then Luke fought back to get 19. Badminton was fast and furious. Sylvain, probably the best badminton player on the tour, led 18-11, but Luke dug in to save crucial points, including a couple of set points, and it ended 21-14.

Luke played aggressive, front-foot squash and gradually opened up a considerable lead. From a little before the turn even, Sylvain was visibly tired, giving up on balls that, at the start of a match, he would make. A little surprising as it was Luke that had played the U21 category alongside the Men’s Elite, and won it – a fitting tribute to his father who tragically passed away a few months ago and for whom the Juniors U21 World Championships trophy has been named after in dedication. A strong second half saw Luke take squash 21-9.
Sylvain’s body language here, as often, seemed downbeat, but it belies inner steel. To watch the end of the squash it would be reasonable to assume Luke might gradually pull away as Sylvain tired in tennis, but that was far from the case. In hindsight, it seems Sylvain was intentionally sacrificing slightly the squash, which Luke tends to win against him anyway, in order to save himself for the tennis.

The tennis was high quality and neck-and-neck, with Sylvain leading 11-10. Then Luke hit sixth gear, particularly with two incredible groundstrokes, the second of which, plumb on the line, made it 18 15 and left Sylvain looking at the ground for a good five seconds, not, it seemed, really querying the call, but just despairing at what more he could do and cursing his luck that it didn’t land centimetres further on.
After all this, about two hours of mano e mano combat, it was a shame, and very ill-fitting of a match of such calibre, that Luke earned the victory on a double fault. But such is racketlon sometimes (and indeed life?).

As good as this game was, Luke’s semi-final against Jesper Ratzer was even better – said by many around the venue to be the greatest racketlon match ever.
For the unitiated, take a flight of fancy and imagine that, if instead of playing at the same time, Nadal had grown up in Federer’s shadow (or vice versa) but they never really met at their peaks as one was a lot younger and the older had semi-retired – but then older of the two played Wimbledon, got a wildcard, and they finally meet for a match at basically their peak level. Jesper had not lost a racketlon match since 2012! Simply put, the match promised fireworks, and delivered – and then some.
Table tennis was tight as expected, 21-18 to Luke. The badminton was fast and furious, rallies reaching all four corners, with the Brit just getting the better of most of them, a fantastic scoreline against someone who used to dominate elite level in the badminton when an active player.
The temperature raised yet again in squash, with Luke especially roaring for each of the nine points he got – sign of a good effort against a player who has been one of the best at squash in Denmark in his time. It meant the scores were exactly even going into tennis.

Probably the best set, not just for the drama but the quality too, was the tennis; both players attacking and hitting lines aplenty. No sign of racketlon tennis here. At one point in the first half Luke had come to the net, Jesper lobbed, Luke got the top frame to the ball, sending it high up in to the air. There was so much spin it bounced slightly towards the net. Jesper reached and improvised a push shot near to the baseline, then Luke lobbed and came in, then returned the favour and won it with a lob.
It was nip and tuck most of the way, with many point-winning roars, especially from Luke, as he edged away to 17 14. After one excellent point from Jesper, he issued two, staring right down at Luke in reply.
Some excellent forehands saw Jesper bring it back to all-square at 18-18, where there was a huge decision on a passing shot of Jesper’s. The great thing about clay court tennis obviously is that the ball leaves a mark. Luke said, “Come and have a look if you want.” Ratzer replied directly, “I will.” A quick look peering over the net two metres away and he conceded it was in. It was that critical a moment that half a dozen or so others went to inspect the same mark when the match was over (and confirm the call was good).
Both continued to press. When you are this good, nerves don’t really come into play. On match point Jesper hit three hard, fearless groundstrokes – the last of which landed just long.
There were moving scenes at the end as the players embraced and chatted about the match, both saying what a fun match it was. It’s tempting to call it a lovely passing of the torch moment, but, competitive as Jesper is, it might inspire him to continue to train and play World Championships in the future. With the prospect of more encounters like this, here’s hoping…
