Fallon Sherrock and Phil Taylor: Two Generations, Two Icons, One Unforgettable Darts Story
In darts, greatness is measured in trophies, averages, nine-dart finishes and the ability to perform when the pressure is at its highest. Few names have become as synonymous with greatness as Phil “The Power” Taylor, while few players have changed the conversation around women in professional darts quite as dramatically as Fallon Sherrock.
They come from completely different generations of the sport. Taylor built an extraordinary legacy over decades, dominating the professional game to such an extent that he became the benchmark against which almost every subsequent player was measured. Sherrock, meanwhile, emerged as one of the most recognisable women in modern darts, breaking barriers and proving that women could compete—and win—on one of the sport’s biggest stages.
Yet their careers have crossed more than once, creating a fascinating connection between two very different figures in darts history.
Their most memorable encounter came during the 2020 “Darts From Home” series, when Sherrock faced Taylor in an online contest. Taylor eventually prevailed 7–6 in a dramatic deciding-leg battle, but the result was almost secondary to the spectacle. Sherrock pushed one of the greatest players the sport has ever produced to the limit, coming agonisingly close to a nine-dart finish along the way.
That contest captured something important about both players.
Taylor represented an era of dominance.
Sherrock represented an era of opportunity.
And together, they helped tell one of the most fascinating stories in modern darts.
The Making of “The Power”
Long before Fallon Sherrock became known as the “Queen of the Palace,” Phil Taylor had already established himself as the defining figure of professional darts.
Taylor’s career was built around extraordinary consistency. While many talented players experience periods of brilliance, Taylor turned brilliance into a standard. He repeatedly produced performances that seemed almost impossible for opponents to match.
His record of 16 World Championship titles remains one of the most remarkable achievements in professional darts. Even in an era when players such as Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright and Luke Littler have pushed the standard of the game higher, Taylor’s accomplishments continue to occupy a unique place in darts history.
His dominance was not simply about winning tournaments.
It was about how frequently he won them.
Taylor became famous for his scoring power, his ruthless finishing and his ability to apply pressure without appearing overwhelmed by it. Opponents knew that giving him even a small opening could be enough for him to take control of a match.
The nickname “The Power” eventually became more than a nickname. It became an identity.
Taylor also became one of the central figures in darts’ transition into a major televised sport. His personality, rivalries and extraordinary results helped attract audiences who might previously have regarded darts as a pub game rather than an elite professional sport.
His career eventually reached its final PDC World Championship appearance in 2018, when he lost the final to Rob Cross. He later competed on the World Seniors circuit before announcing that he would no longer compete competitively.
But retirement did little to diminish Taylor’s influence.
His name remains embedded in the sport.
His records remain targets.
And his style remains part of the blueprint that modern players study.
Fallon Sherrock: The Woman Who Changed the Conversation
Fallon Sherrock’s journey was very different.
Born in Milton Keynes in 1994, Sherrock began developing her reputation in women’s darts before becoming a household name far beyond the women’s game.
She had already demonstrated serious ability before her historic breakthrough. She reached the final of the 2015 BDO Women’s World Darts Championship and won the World Darts Trophy in 2018.
But nothing could have prepared the sporting world for what happened at Alexandra Palace in December 2019.
Sherrock became the first woman to win a match at the PDC World Darts Championship.
Her opponent was Ted Evetts.
The match was tense, competitive and historic.
Sherrock won 3–2.
Suddenly, the darts world had a new star.
The significance of that victory extended far beyond one match.
It challenged assumptions about what women could achieve in mixed-gender professional darts. Sherrock had not simply participated in the World Championship. She had beaten a male opponent on one of the biggest stages in the sport.
And she wasn’t finished.
She defeated Mensur Suljović in the second round, winning 3–1 and becoming the first female player to win two matches at a PDC World Championship. Her run eventually ended against Chris Dobey in the third round.
The nickname “Queen of the Palace” was born from that extraordinary run.
It was a moment that transformed Sherrock from a talented darts player into a global sporting figure.
The Impact of Alexandra Palace
The Alexandra Palace run was significant because it forced people who had never paid attention to women’s darts to pay attention.
Sherrock suddenly appeared on television screens around the world.
Her matches became major talking points.
People who knew little about darts knew her name.
And young girls watching the tournament could see something that had rarely been visible on such a stage: a woman competing successfully against men in a major professional sporting environment.
That visibility mattered.
Darts has a unique structure compared with many other sports because men and women can theoretically compete against each other without the same physical-contact considerations found in sports such as football, rugby or boxing.
The main battle is one of precision, concentration, consistency and mental strength.
Sherrock’s performances demonstrated that the barrier was not necessarily physical ability.
The question was opportunity.
And she took that opportunity.
When Sherrock Met Taylor
The connection between Sherrock and Taylor became particularly interesting during the Darts From Home series in 2020.
The event was held during the period when traditional sporting competitions were heavily disrupted, forcing darts organisers and players to explore online formats.
Taylor and Sherrock faced each other remotely.
On paper, the match looked like a meeting between two very different generations.
Taylor was the established legend.
Sherrock was the rising star whose reputation had exploded only months earlier.
Yet once the darts started flying, the difference in reputation disappeared.
Sherrock competed.
And she competed extremely well.
The match went all the way to a deciding leg.
Taylor eventually won 7–6, using his experience to close out the contest. Sky Sports described the encounter as a last-leg thriller, with Sherrock coming extremely close to a nine-dart finish.
For Taylor, it was another victory.
For Sherrock, it was another statement.
She had taken one of the greatest players in history to the wire.
And she had done so at a time when the entire darts world was watching her every move.
A Battle Between Experience and Fearlessness
What made the Taylor-Sherrock encounter particularly fascinating was the contrast in their approaches.
Taylor had spent decades learning how to win.
He knew how to manage pressure.
He understood when to attack and when to slow a match down.
He had experienced countless situations in which one missed double could cost a title.
Sherrock, meanwhile, had something slightly different.
She had fearlessness.
Her rise had already been built on doing things that many people thought were impossible.
Before Alexandra Palace, defeating a male opponent at the PDC World Championship had never been achieved by a woman.
After she did it, she went back and did it again.
That mentality was visible against Taylor.
She was not simply happy to share a stage with a legend.
She wanted to beat him.
And that competitive mentality is one of the reasons her popularity grew so quickly.
Taylor’s Respect for Sherrock
Taylor’s importance to Sherrock’s story is also interesting because he belongs to the generation that helped establish the modern professional game.
He understood better than most what it meant to perform under the spotlight.
So when Sherrock began making history, her achievements were not simply viewed through the lens of gender.
They were viewed through the lens of darts.
She was a competitor.
She was producing the numbers.
She was winning matches.
And she was earning her place.
Taylor’s own opinions about Sherrock’s participation in the World Championship have also been positive, with Taylor publicly expressing support for her involvement in the event.
That matters because Sherrock’s story was never simply about being a woman playing darts.
It was about being good enough to compete.
Sherrock’s Continued Success
The Alexandra Palace breakthrough could easily have been a one-time phenomenon.
It wasn’t.
Sherrock continued building her résumé.
In 2021, she reached the quarter-finals of the Grand Slam of Darts, becoming the first woman to reach the last eight of a mixed-gender major darts tournament.
She defeated Gabriel Clemens in the group stage and then beat Mensur Suljović 10–5 in the last 16 before eventually losing to Peter Wright 16–13 in the quarter-final.
That run further demonstrated that her World Championship success had not been a fluke.
Sherrock belonged at that level.
In 2022, she won the inaugural Women’s World Matchplay title, adding a major trophy to her growing résumé.
She also became one of the most successful players on the PDC Women’s Series.
Her career has included numerous Women’s Series titles, placing her among the leading female players of her generation.
And even as a new generation of female players emerged, Sherrock remained one of the sport’s most recognisable names.
The Rise of a New Generation
One of the most interesting developments in darts has been the emergence of younger female stars who are now following paths that Sherrock helped make more visible.
Players such as Beau Greaves have demonstrated that women’s darts is no longer defined by a single breakthrough player.
Greaves has become a dominant force in her own right.
At the 2026 Women’s World Matchplay, Greaves defeated Sherrock 6–5 in a dramatic final-leg decider to claim a record third title at the event.
For Sherrock, the defeat was undoubtedly disappointing.
But there is another way to view it.
The fact that younger women are now challenging and eventually surpassing established stars is evidence of the growth of the women’s game.
Sherrock helped open the door.
Greaves and others are now pushing through it.
From Taylor’s Era to Sherrock’s Era
Phil Taylor and Fallon Sherrock can therefore be viewed as symbols of two important periods in darts.
Taylor represents the era when professional darts became increasingly sophisticated, televised and commercially powerful.
Sherrock represents an era in which the boundaries of participation are being challenged.
Taylor helped establish the standard.
Sherrock helped expand who could be seen reaching that standard.
Their careers are therefore connected even though their achievements are different.
Taylor’s legacy is measured largely in championships.
Sherrock’s legacy is measured both in championships and in barriers broken.
And that distinction is important.
The Numbers Tell Only Part of the Story
It would be easy to compare Taylor and Sherrock simply through statistics.
Taylor has 16 World Championship titles.
Sherrock has one of the most important collections of “firsts” in modern darts.
But numbers cannot fully explain their influence.
Taylor’s impact can be seen whenever a player is described as being on course to become the “greatest ever.”
His name is still used as the measuring stick.
In fact, debates about whether current stars such as Luke Littler could eventually surpass Taylor demonstrate just how enormous Taylor’s legacy remains. Recent commentary has even suggested that Littler has already moved beyond Taylor in the greatest-player debate, although such comparisons remain highly subjective.
Sherrock’s influence is different.
Whenever a woman defeats a male opponent in a major darts competition, her 2019 achievement is inevitably mentioned.
Whenever a young girl picks up darts and dreams of competing professionally, Sherrock’s story is part of the evidence that the pathway exists.
That is influence too.
The Mental Side of Their Games
There is another similarity between Taylor and Sherrock: mental toughness.
Darts is often described as a simple game because the physical movement required is relatively small.
Anyone who has played competitively knows that this is misleading.
The mental demands can be enormous.
A player can spend an entire leg building an advantage only to miss one double.
One missed dart can change the momentum of a match.
The ability to forget mistakes is therefore essential.
Taylor mastered this.
He could miss a big opportunity and immediately return to scoring.
Sherrock demonstrated the same quality during her historic World Championship run.
Against Ted Evetts, she found herself in a deciding set.
The pressure was enormous.
But she held her nerve.
That is why the victory mattered.
It wasn’t simply that she could throw 180s.
It was that she could throw them when the world was watching.
Sherrock’s Legacy Beyond Results
Perhaps Sherrock’s biggest contribution to darts cannot be found on a statistics page.
It is the number of people she inspired.
Her 2019 World Championship run attracted attention from outside the traditional darts audience, and her achievement was widely celebrated as an important moment for women in sport.
The visibility was crucial.
Women’s sport has historically struggled with exposure.
Talent can exist for years without receiving the platform required to become mainstream.
Sherrock received that platform—and used it.
She became proof that women’s darts could generate excitement, drama and enormous audiences.
Her story also demonstrated that female athletes did not need to be separated from male competition to be taken seriously.
Sometimes, the most powerful statement is simply to compete on the same stage.
Taylor’s Legacy Beyond the Trophy Cabinet
Taylor’s legacy is equally difficult to reduce to numbers.
His 16 world titles are extraordinary, but his broader contribution to darts is perhaps even more significant.
He helped turn dominance into entertainment.
Fans didn’t simply watch Taylor because he won.
They watched because they wanted to see whether anyone could stop him.
Every opponent had a story.
Every tournament carried the question:
Can anybody beat The Power?
That aura is rare in sport.
It is similar to what audiences experienced watching Michael Jordan in basketball, Serena Williams in tennis or Usain Bolt in sprinting.
The dominant champion becomes bigger than the competition.
Taylor became that figure for darts.
Two Players Who Understand Pressure
Despite their different careers, Taylor and Sherrock share one important characteristic.
Neither is intimidated by the moment.
Taylor spent years walking onto major stages with opponents knowing that he was the favourite.
Sherrock walked onto Alexandra Palace knowing that the entire sporting world was waiting to see whether history could happen.
Both situations require extraordinary mental strength.
The difference is that Taylor’s pressure came from being expected to win.
Sherrock’s pressure came from being expected to prove that she belonged.
That makes their meeting particularly symbolic.
When they played each other, those pressures collided.
The legend against the trailblazer.
The established champion against the woman changing the future of the sport.
The 7–6 Result That Meant More Than a Scoreline
Taylor’s 7–6 victory in their Darts From Home contest is officially just another match result.
But historically, it means more.
It showed that Sherrock could stand toe-to-toe with one of the greatest players to ever throw a dart.
Taylor won.
But Sherrock earned something from the match too.
Respect.
And respect is arguably one of the most valuable currencies in professional sport.
A player can become famous quickly.
Respect takes longer.
Sherrock earned it by repeatedly performing.
The match against Taylor was another chapter in that process.
What Comes Next for Sherrock?
Sherrock’s career continues in an increasingly competitive women’s game.
The landscape has changed considerably since her historic World Championship appearance.
The emergence of players such as Beau Greaves means that Sherrock is no longer the only female player attracting major attention.
That is not a threat to her legacy.
It is evidence of it.
Every generation eventually produces new stars.
Taylor eventually faced challengers who wanted to take his crown.
Sherrock is now experiencing the same reality.
The difference is that the growth of women’s darts means there are more elite competitors than ever.
That can only raise the standard.
What Remains of Phil Taylor?
Taylor may no longer be competing regularly, but his influence remains impossible to escape.
Modern players are constantly compared with him.
His records are still discussed.
His matches are still replayed.
And his name remains central to conversations about the greatest player in darts history.
Even players who never competed against him are measured against the standard he created.
That is the ultimate sign of sporting immortality.
You do not need to be competing to remain relevant.
Your achievements become part of the sport’s language.
A Meeting of Past and Future
Perhaps the most fitting way to understand Taylor and Sherrock is to see them not as rivals from competing eras, but as two important pieces of the same story.
Taylor helped create the modern professional darts environment.
Sherrock demonstrated how that environment could become more inclusive.
Taylor’s career showed what extraordinary dominance looked like.
Sherrock’s career showed what extraordinary barrier-breaking looked like.
One collected world titles.
The other collected historic firsts.
Both became symbols.
And both helped make darts bigger than it was before them.
The Lasting Image
If darts fans are asked to picture Phil Taylor, they might imagine the familiar stance, the focused expression and the relentless scoring.
If they are asked to picture Fallon Sherrock, they may remember Alexandra Palace, the roar of the crowd and the moment history changed.
Those images belong to different eras.
But they belong to the same sport.
Taylor’s story is about mastery.
Sherrock’s story is about possibility.
And perhaps that is why their careers fit together so naturally.
The greatest champions do more than win.
They change expectations.
Taylor changed expectations of how consistently one player could dominate professional darts.
Sherrock changed expectations of who could succeed on the sport’s biggest stages.
Conclusion
Phil Taylor and Fallon Sherrock are two of the most fascinating figures in modern darts, not because their careers are identical, but because they represent two very different kinds of greatness.
Taylor is the benchmark.
Sixteen World Championship titles, decades of elite competition and an influence that continues to shape discussions about the greatest player of all time.
Sherrock is the trailblazer.
Her historic victories at the PDC World Championship, her Grand Slam quarter-final run, her Women’s World Matchplay triumph and her continued presence among the leading women in professional darts have made her one of the most important figures in the sport’s modern history.
Their 7–6 Darts From Home encounter provided