When Beau Greaves stunned world No 1 Luke Littler at the PDC World Youth Championships last October, it should have been a defining sporting moment focused on her ability. While many outlets celebrated the 22-year-old — already with more than 50 PDC Women’s Series titles — others framed it mainly around her gender, with headlines such as “Littler beaten by a woman” and “Battle of the Sexes”.
Her victory over Littler was a genuine landmark: the first woman to reach the World Youth Final and the player who beat the reigning world No 1. But the excess focus on her being female risks overshadowing what the win actually represented — elite performance against a top opponent — and could affect how her career is perceived long term.
Laura Turner, Sky Sports pundit and pro player, highlighted the dilemma. “It’s that double-edged sword, isn’t it? Because we want the publicity, we want the role models, we want people to be visible, but be visible for the right reasons — and that’s just the quality of play.” Turner reflected on the trailblazing women who preceded Greaves and helped shift the narrative: Lisa Ashton was the first woman to win a tour card at Q-School, Fallon Sherrock was the first woman to win a match at the PDC World Championship, and Anastasia Dobromyslova was the first woman to beat a male professional on TV at the Grand Slam.
Turner described how coverage changed from marveling that “a woman” was competing with men to recognising that “it’s just a dart player playing against another dart player.” “It was just phenomenal darts when she won in that semi-final against Luke Littler,” Turner said. “There was nothing more really that needed to be said other than the world No 1 and the world champion had just been knocked out.”
Greaves herself admitted in late 2024 that she had been reluctant to enter the PDC World Championship, saying she did not feel she could win it. But two appearances at Alexandra Palace, earning a PDC ProTour card on merit, and becoming the first woman to hit a nine-darter on the tour in February have replaced doubt with belief. She now expresses confidence that she belongs on the big stage and wants to help other women get regular exposure against top players. “It’s getting the exposure for the ladies to be able to go and play the bigger players and bigger names on a regular basis,” she said, noting that women often get only a couple of chances a year at the biggest events and can be “thrown in there a bit.”
The “Battle of the Sexes” label has resurfaced in sport headlines recently, notably around Aryna Sabalenka’s exhibition tennis match with Nick Kyrgios. While tennis has a history of such matches — from Bobby Riggs vs Billie Jean King in 1973 to Connors vs Navratilova in 1992 — some argued the Sabalenka-Kyrgios meeting was damaging to women’s sport. Sabalenka and Kyrgios dismissed that, saying they were there to “have fun” and grow the sport. In darts, however, there is no exhibition novelty: women compete against men routinely on the professional tour, on equal terms — and Turner wants that to be the focus.
“You don’t want to shy away from the fact that that person is female because you want the role models for young girls to come through. But you also don’t need that to be the only thing that people talk about,” Turner said.
Part of the pressure for women in the spotlight is dealing with intense media attention and the psychological strain that comes with it. Turner praised female players who have coped with sudden fame and scrutiny, especially in a sport where dartitis — a psychological condition that disrupts a player’s release — can derail careers. Greaves has spoken openly about her own struggles with dartitis in 2022, describing severe anxiety: “I’d panicked before I even got on the oche. It was a lot of anxiety thinking I’m going to miss the board, especially in front of people… It was hard to come to terms with [the fact that] I might never get over it.” She credited family support for helping her through: “My dad’s had it and my brother Tay [Taylor] has had it but you can’t let it bother you too much… You have to work through it and you just can’t let it bother you too much.”
Turner noted the importance of being grounded after sudden success. “For Fallon it was that vast attention she got from having very little, to having a lot. She had to learn to deal with that, to work with the media… Beau is very much one of those players that likes to remain grounded. She keeps her family network around her all the time. That’s a real good leveller for her.”
Greaves’ rise — historic wins, major titles, a ProTour card and a nine-darter — demonstrates that darts is determined by skill and nerve, not gender. The hope among players and pundits is that coverage and conversation will continue to move toward recognising players for their performances first, while still celebrating the role-model impact of women who break barriers and inspire the next generation.