Luke Littler blamed a lack of sleep for his shock European Tour exit on Friday night.
The Nuke was facing Wessel Nijman in the opening round of the Baltic Sea Darts Open.
Despite being a clear favourite to progress, the 17-year-old sensation fell to a 6-3 defeat to see his campaign come to a surprisingly premature end.
Competing in Kiel, Germany, Littler had less than 24 hours between the competition and his previous outing in the Premier League on Thursday night.
Despite being booed, Littler reached the semi-finals in Leeds at the First Direct Arena where he was beaten by Michael van Gerwen on a night that belonged to hometown boy, Luke Humphries.
But instead of bouncing back from the disappointment, the teenager looked far from his best.
Littler had taken to Instagram early on Friday morning, showing him starting his journey to Germany at 4.20am, captioning his picture: “The joys of the Euro tour”.
Following his defeat to Dutch star Nijman, Littler made his feelings very clear in a second Instagram story.
He wrote: “Can’t expect to play my best darts on four hours’ sleep.
“Premier League < Euro Tour is grueling.
“Well played Wessel, see you all Thursday,” with a saluting emoji.
As alluded to, Littler will next be in action for Night 16 of the Premier League in Sheffield – the penultimate week of the championship.
Sitting top of the table, Littler has already qualified for the Premier League Playoffs at the O2 Arena on Thursday, May 23.