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Luke Littler once confessed he knew very little about Emma Raducanu but would like to meet the tennis ace. The young sporting stars have had contrasting fortunes over the last 24 hours.

While world champion Littler stormed to victory at the first-ever Saudi Arabia Masters by beating Michael van Gerwen in the final, Raducanu suffered a second-round defeat by Anastasia Potapova at the Australian Open. The 28th seed had been hoping to set up another clash with world number one Aryna Sabalenka, but she faded from a promising position in a 7-6 (3) 6-2 defeat. It's a far cry from 2021 when Raducanu swept to glory as an 18-year-old qualifier at the US Open. Despite her recent struggles with fitness and form, Raducanu remains the poster girl of British tennis, with interest in the 23-year-old still incredibly high.

However, her exploits seem to have passed Littler by, judging by his comments about her this time last year. He candidly told the Daily Mail: "We [he and Raducanu] have had no involvement as of yet. I didn't know much about her but I know she won what she did at a young age. I'm sure her social media team or mine will be in touch. And I'd like to meet up."

Meanwhile, Raducanu has spoken of her great respect for Littler and the prowess of top darts players. She said last year: "Amazing respect to him. Big time [interested in meeting Littler]. I'd love to meet any top athletes and top individuals who have succeeded in their fields."

She also offered the Nuke some advice on how to handle the scrutiny and interest in her career. She said: "Not much prepares you for that. You feel like you're constantly a bit on edge because you're being followed [by photographers] or something.

"But I think the biggest part is the judgment and the comments about every single decision that you make. That for me was really difficult to deal with, to try and desensitise myself to and just understand that it comes with the territory you're in. But I think trying to stay away from that and keep on my path has probably been the biggest adjustment for me."

Following her defeat to Potapova, Raducanu said she wasn't happy with her game, raising questions marks about her relationship with current coach Francisco Roig. Raducanu, who has worked with a plethora of coaches, has previously spoken positively about the work she is doing with Roig, a former member of Rafael Nadal's inner circle.

But she does not feel she has found the right formula on court. She said: "I think I'm going to take a few days, get back home and try and just re-evaluate my game a bit. Watch it back, see where I can improve.

"What I have been feeling and also what is visually apparent. I definitely want to feel better on certain shots before I start playing again.

"I want to be playing a different way, and I think the misalignment with how I'm playing right now and how I want to be playing is something that I just want to work on."