Fallon Sherrock is plotting a showdown with young darts sensation Luke Littler in the second round of the PDC World Darts Championship – but has revealed she’s been through health troubles recently.
Sherrock, known as the ‘Queen of the Palace’, will face Ryan Meikle in a first-round duel on Tuesday night. The stakes are high with a coveted prime-time bout against ‘Luke the Nuke’ on Saturday night lying in wait for the victor.
Sherrock, who made waves five years prior by being the first woman to defeat male competitors at the prestigious tournament, is not thinking past Meikle, the world’s No. 62, though.
While commending Littler’s finesse in managing his newfound fame since blowing up in last year’s World Championship when the teenager reached the final, Sherrock cautions that celebrity can often be a blade with two edges.
“It’s like a big pressure kind of thing,” says Sherrock. “You don’t want to put a foot out of line. You don’t want to do anything wrong.
“As soon as something happens, it is so blown up – you could literally write one tweet or comment on something – and next thing you know it’s in the papers, it’s everywhere on social media.
“It’s like a fine line with the pressure you are under to be a role model as well, and I think he is doing really well. He is playing to his ability, he is not doing anything bad.”
Sherrock, now 30, is still awaiting another World Championship match win since her momentous victories in 2019 and shared her frustration: “It gets to you because I have played well each time, I have got the sets, but I haven’t got over that line.
“I feel like the players that I have played have upped it towards the end of the games as well. I have always been in a fight.”
As she enters this year with less pressure and media spotlight she admitted she has suffered with her health of late: “This year I feel like there is hardly any pressure on me at all – there are other players in the field who have got the media attention and stuff, so I can go under the radar.
“I have been poorly. I haven’t publicised it as such. Only a few people close to me actually know about it but I am on the mend now and hopefully getting my confidence back.”
Sherrock has tried to distance herself from her potential date with Littler even though Meikle has not made it past the last 32 of any major tournament since 2019. She said: “I got a text from my manager Jason about the draw.
“I replied back with a single word – ‘Lovely.’ You cannot ignore it – you are literally fighting to play one of the best people in the world at the moment.”
“But you also can’t ignore Ryan, – he’s a really good player in his own right. I know I’ll need to play my ‘A’ game otherwise I am losing.
“I get on really well with Ryan. He even gave me my pair of clippers. There could have been kinder draws, and I would have preferred not to play Ryan, the draw has to happen.
“We get the carrot at the end of it in Luke – and who doesn’t want to play the best in the world? There are so many people who have messaged and come up to me saying, ‘Wow, you must be so excited you are playing Luke Littler.’
And I’m like, ‘Hang on, I haven’t even won my first game yet. It is a bit disrespectful because of the calibre of person that Ryan is. For me, I am not even looking at playing Luke, my main objective is playing Ryan, that is my first goal.”
