SHERROCK SPOTLIGHT OFF AFTER Q-SCHOOL SETBACK

FALLON SHERROCK could benefit from life out of the spotlight after her Q-school setback.

‘The Queen of the Palace’ failed to win a Tour Card at Milton Keynes last weekend as she suffered FOUR first round defeats.

The Milton Keynes thrower was also beaten by Dave Chisnall 3-0 at the World Championship in the first-round last month.

Sky Sports Pundit Laura Turner believes Sherrock could now rebuild with less pressure after years as the focal point of women’s darts.

Turner reckons the expectation that followed Sherrock’s historic Ally Pally breakthrough in 2019 has never really lifted, but that is now beginning to change.

She pointed to the emergence of Beau Greaves as a key factor, with the three-time women’s world champion set to join the PDC ProTour in 2026.

Turner said: “Fallon will be a player that says she likes to go under the radar, but obviously her 2019 exploits at the World Championship and backing it up with the run to the quarter-finals at the Grand Slam as well, she was always in the spotlight.

“She will always have a weight of expectation when she turns up, especially when she goes back to Alexandra Palace, but I think now what’s starting to happen is you’ve got the likes of Beau Greaves, who’s going to be on the PDC Tour in 2026.

“People are talking about Greaves a little bit more, and I think Fallon’s quite happy with that because then the spotlight’s not all on her.

“It was a lot of years that she’s been flying the flag for women’s darts, and she’s done a fantastic job at that. She’s always been Fallon the trailblazer.

“But I think if the spotlight’s off her slightly, then perhaps that just gives her a little bit more leeway in terms of how it goes with so much of the press and noise and other things you have to do away from the oche. Maybe it will allow her to just focus a bit more on the darts in hand.

“For me, if we’ve got that 2019 version or even a better version of Fallon Sherrock that we can get back into the game, then it’s always a positive. I’ve got no doubt that she will get back up to those kind of levels.”

Women’s world No 17 Turner believes Sherrock’s health struggles away from the oche have had an inevitable knock-on effect on her match sharpness.

She added: “With Fallon, she’s spoken quite openly a few times that she has had issues with health [kidney disease] which have then restricted her opportunities to play in as many events as she’d like.

“Also to probably dedicate as much time and practice, because quite often she’s not 100 per cent, she will be tired.

“Events on the PDC side of things, the Women’s Series, Challenge Tour, they are quite exhausting. They are long days.

“Then it’s bound to have that knock-on effect, that impact on the way you perform. The fact you don’t even have as much match practice, you haven’t been playing as many tournaments, so you’re just not match-sharp, you’re not quite match-ready.

“I think that’s probably where Fallon is at the moment. She’s just looking to address those problems now that she’s had some more positive news about her health.”

Image by Taylor Lanning.