World Darts Championship: Fallon Sherrock insists she deserves her spot and blocks out the negativity about her on social media

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Mon December 12, 2022 · 2y ago

Fallon Sherrock insists she deserves her spot at the PDC World Darts Championship and has vowed to keep blocking out the negativity that comes her way on social media.

The Queen of the Palace initially missed out on a return to the Ally Pally after finishing third in the PDC's Women's Series Order of Merit behind Lisa Ashton and Beau Greaves but last week the PDC announced that the Women's World Matchplay was now part of the qualification criteria.

This meant Sherrock's success at the inaugural staging of the televised tournament back in July earned her a retrospective spot in the 96-player field alongside Ashton and Greaves - although there was plenty of criticism from those who claimed she was receiving 'preferential treatment' due to her status in the sport.

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The Milton Keynes ace shot to stardom thanks to her glass-ceiling smashing heroics on the biggest stage of all three years ago, while she continued to make headlines for a stunning run to last year's Grand Slam of Darts quarter-finals, where she averaged almost 100 over 29 legs against Peter Wright, and coming from 7-1 down to beat Dimitri Van den Bergh 11-10 at the 2021 Nordic Darts Masters before finishing a close runner-up to Michael van Gerwen.

Sherrock is the first person to admit that 2022 hasn't gone to plan due to disappointing results on the World Series tour and in last month's Grand Slam while she recently opened up about her difficult experiences in the Women's Series - but the 27-year-old is keen to stress her place at the Ally Pally is still very much deserved.

Speaking at the World Championship draw, where she was paired with Ricky Evans in round one, she told the media, including Sporting Life: "I do know there’s been negative comments online and from other players. I do get it but I do think I deserve my spot because I think people forget I did win a PDC TV title. It’s not like I haven’t.

Fallon Sherrock wins Women's World Matchplay Darts title after beating Aileen de Graaf. 🏆pic.twitter.com/uy0XBRUwZp
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) July 24, 2022

"People just assume, because I won two games at the World Championship, that I’ve been given everything, but I haven’t. I’ve had to earn my stuff as well, like when I played Glen Durrant in the Premier League, when I made a World Series final in 2021, what I did in the Grand Slam (in 2021), I think people forget about that."

Asked if she thought she couldn't win with certain sections of fans, Sherrock replied: "I could go the World Championship and win it, and I would still get some hate. It would be silly stuff like ‘they let her win’. It would be stupid stuff, I’d still get hate.”

"I stay off social media and try to block the negativity out. Everyone has their opinion and even if I was world number one - or the worst player ever - I'd still get hate. I knew there was going to be that kind of reaction but nobody has said anything bad to be personally. I've had no hate messages and everything has been positive.

"I really limit how much social media I use and I don't read comments. If people do try and contact me that way I won't even see it because I don't read or reply to them. I will still post things occasionally but I don't read any further.

“I’ve got such a strong guard up now that nothing will really bother me now. My brain doesn’t worry about what someone is writing about me on social media but in the past it probably did.

“I never lose sight of all the support I get. I’ve not been personally sent any negative messages and without all the support I do get, I don’t think I’d be where I am.

“A lot of people do sadly dwell on having so much negativity and hate being written about them. It can be really harmful and people who write that stuff really need to change otherwise it could lead to something terrible.”

Sherrock believes that instead of debating the her selection, everyone should instead focus on the magnitude of having three world-class female players in the World Championship for the first time.

She said: "I think people have missed the ball on it. Actually look at it, that’s three women now who have been put in, the prize money (for next year's Women’s Series) has gone up. Overall, there are more women’s competitions. The sport is growing.

“All of those stories were put out at the same time but the critics decided to focus on me. I think I’ve just got used to them pinpointing everything on me. It’s not my fault, I didn’t ask to get put in the World Championship, they just put me in because I’ve won a TV title."

Sherrock did win three of the opening 12 Women's Series tournaments of the season before Greaves incredibly won all of the remaining eight during a stunning run of 52 successive match victories.

The 18-year-old, who became the youngest ever darts world champion at the Lakeside earlier this year, will have a lot of expectations on her shoulders and Sherrock believes she can benefit from having less of the spotlight.

She said: "Having three women in the World Championship will also help because the eyes and attention will be divided out between us rather than just focused on me like in the past.

"Although everyone knows what I can do, because my form hasn't been great I don't think people are expecting me to win and I prefer being under the radar like that. I just assume everyone will be focused on Beau and Lisa this year which takes the stress of me."

As far as assessing her season is concerned, Sherrock admitted: "It's not been a great year. It could have been a lot better but also a lot worse. Overall I know what I need to do which is to put more hours in the practice room because I was playing too much and travelling all over the place.

"I thought because I was playing a lot I didn't need to put as much practice in but I think that's where I faltered. So I've put a lot more hours in now and I think 2023 will be much better, starting with the World Championship.

"I was playing a lot of tough competitive matches but not winning and sometimes you need to learn to win again. It's all very well hitting a lot of 180s and scoring well but if I'm not closing games out, it makes it harder. I've been upping my match practice, learning how to close the game out again and getting the confidence back. And now I think qualifying for the World Championship has taken a lot of stress off my shoulders."