Fallon Sherrock knows she has to prove herself on the World Championship stage again.
Sherrock became darting royalty in 2019 when she was the first woman to win a match at the PDC’s biggest tournament at Alexandra Palace, reaching the third round.
She was nicknamed ‘Queen of the Palace’ after that landmark few days but has not won another match there in two return visits.
The 29-year-old is back this year and is hoping to prove that her exploits in beating Ted Evetts and Mensur Suljovic four years ago were not a fluke.
“I feel like I need to prove why I am coming back,” she told the PA news agency. “I know I have got the game and every time I have been so close, the scoreline might not have come out the way I thought the game went.
“It has always been so close. I feel like the more games I have played it makes me even stronger every time I go back. It is going to happen again, I don’t know when, but I am going to win again and hopefully, it is this year.
“I always love this time of year, it is great memories going back there.
“I don’t feel expectation anymore, I maybe did going back the first time, but this is my fourth time now.
“People don’t treat me any differently anymore, they know I am good at darts and know I can win a match. I feel like I am part of the set-up. It doesn’t scare me playing these players anymore.”
Sherrock’s life changed forever when she burst on to the scene.
She is a regular on the lucrative exhibition circuit, was made an MBE this summer and also appeared on the reboot of famous TV show Bullseye.
“It is mad. My whole life has completely changed,” she said. “I do sit there and think how lucky I am, not a lot of people get the opportunities I get.
“I always think your life is planned out for some reason. All the bad things that happen, good things come out of it and I think these are the good things. I just have to take every opportunity I can.
“Anything I do, it is going to propel the sport for the women, so I try not to think about it too much.
“I want to win and help progress the game and push the sport further. If I can do it again at the Worlds it will help the sport more.”
Winning the whole tournament might seem optimistic given the quality of some of the leading players, but Sherrock, who has hit two nine-dart finishes this year, says anything is possible.
“I can go as far as I want,” she said. “I take each game as it comes, I never think too far ahead. I have got to the quarter-finals before in main TV events, the possibilities are endless.
“You have to take each game as it comes, in a big tournament like this there is no point looking too far in advance. I just want to play these players all of the time, I want to see how I can hold the pressure.”
