SHERROCK ADMITS IT WAS “MENTAL” TO GET MBE

FALLON SHERROCK is remarkably going from MBE to MVG in just 10 days.

The Queen of the Palace became only the fourth darts player to get a gong from the Royal Family on November 1. Now she faces Michael Van Gerwen at the Grand Slam in Wolverhampton tonight.

On that historic day of collecting her MBE, Sherrock admits she almost forgot to curtsy properly and got tongue-tied with the Prince at Windsor Castle.

She said: “It’s mental to think about it.

“Who would have thought that someone like me, who first played at Lakeside and then won a couple of games at Ally Pally, would one day be meeting the future King? I’ve never been so nervous in my life.

“I was like, ‘Don’t fall over’. I was in high heels and I never normally wear them.

“We had a minute’s conversation and the Prince said he had watched me. I was thinking, has he seen me on TV? Does he know who I am? I was getting proper shy.

“He did say darts is a great sport to go to the pub and watch.

“You have to wait in line and when it’s your turn, you go up.

“But you can’t turn your back on them! That’s one of the things I didn’t want to do.

“So, you start to panic. What do I do? Do I walk straight? Do I look at him first?

“Obviously, I curtseyed because I’m a girl. It’d have been a bit awkward if I bowed to him! It finished by him wishing me good luck and shaking my hand. It was a whole minute of me not breathing properly and trying to have a conversation.”

Sherrock, 29, was given the gong for being the first woman to win matches at the PDC World Championship.

Famously, she knocked out Ted Evetts and Mensur Suljovic in consecutive matches in December 2019 at Alexandra Palace.

She added: “I got an MBE just for winning two games ? if I win a world title, I might get a Damehood!

“But if you look at the bigger picture and what I’ve done for the sport, I can definitely see it now.

“It was a shock and a real experience going there for the MBE. I’m really honoured to have got it.”

Sherrock’s remarkable rise to fame could get another chapter if she manages to beat three-time winner Michael van Gerwen at the Grand Slam of Darts opening night in Wolverhampton.

The pair share the same manager and are close but Sherrock fancies a major upset.

She added: “I’ve beaten him before in an exhibition in Germany. It still counts.

“Every time I play Michael, it’s always a good game.

“I want to play the best players because you’re only going to get better that way as that’s when you’re put under pressure.

“Against the world’s best players, I can see where I am in my game.

“I’m not scared about playing all these world champions. It doesn’t faze me any more.

“I’m feeling confident. If the trebles are going in and the finishing is going in, then it’ll be a really close game.”

Images by Taylor Lanning.