Darts rising star BEAU GREAVES on beating Luke Littler (twice), the yips and vile abuse – and why a girl CAN win the world championship

Midway through our conversation about arrows, mutes and the triviality of practice, Beau Greaves offers a view on where she stands in the world of darts: ‘Decent for a girl.’ Luke Littler, for one, might be inclined to broaden her assessment.

It was on October 13 when they faced off at the oche in the World Youth Championships in Wigan. The first surprise was that Littler showed up at all – aged 18 and nine months on from winning the big one at Alexandra Palace, he was the king of the grown-ups.

A night earlier, he had demolished the world No 1 Luke Humphries in the final of the World Grand Prix, but he fancied ‘a bit of fun’ against the up-and-comers. Hence the trip to Wigan and an encounter with Greaves, which brought the second surprise.

‘I think Luke had played Charlie Manby before he played me and someone said Charlie should have beaten him,’ Greaves, 21, tells Daily Mail Sport.

‘Well, OK, but Luke had an average of 103 or 104 against Charlie. He’s just that good. When you’re standing behind him, he just makes it look easy, right?’

Right. He does. And he would make it look easy against Greaves, too. His average of 107 across the 11 legs of their semi-final was phenomenal, even for a short-format match. In other words, this wasn’t an off-night.   

Beau Greaves is just 21 but might already be the finest female darts player in the sport’s history

She has beaten reigning world champion Luke Littler twice in the past few months and will take that momentum into this year’s tournament, which starts on Thursday

Greaves is shrugging about how that worked out: ‘I just played well.’ Right again – she beat the world champion 6-5. A few weeks later, they met once more in an exhibition in Derby and it was the same outcome. Greaves won that one 6-2.

So yes, decent for a girl. In fact, this daughter of Doncaster might be the finest female player to ever live – she didn’t win that youth final, but she has won a record 86 straight matches on the women’s circuit and the equivalent world title in each of the past three years.

With her dominance against women, she has been granted a PDC tour card to compete regularly against the sport’s best men, which is no surprise to anyone in darts.

Greaves’ gift for this game has been discussed in similar terms to Littler for years – a first-time thrower at 10, an England junior at 12 and a nine-darter at 15 are the milestones of a steep climb to a grand opportunity, when the World Championships return to Ally Pally on Thursday.

The first time Greaves took on the big one, in 2022, she lost in the opening round and was anonymous beyond those in the know; for her second crack at it, she arrives to a far larger billing.

‘Some people have started recognising me, which is pretty weird,’ she says. ‘The most recent one, I was out having a meal and sat in a booth. This couple were in the next booth up and I could see they were taking a picture. He’s posing but I can see the camera is looking to the side of his head to get me in the background. So funny.

‘I mean, I just feel like a normal girl and I don’t feel any different than what I did before I beat Luke. It makes me laugh.’

Of course, there have also been downsides. ‘There is a little bit of hate that comes with it,’ she says. ‘It’s either about the way you look or how you play or stuff like that. It’s just social media, isn’t it? But what people say doesn’t really bother me, because I’m happy in my life.’   

‘What people say doesn’t really bother me,’ says Greaves of online trolls. ‘I’m happy in my life’

None of this attention feels natural to her, by the way. ‘I’m pretty shy,’ she says. ‘I’m better now but when I was young, I just wouldn’t talk. One time, when I was four or five, my mum got called into primary school and the teacher asked if I was mute. I just never said a word. It was crippling shyness or something, but it was only when I was 16 or 17 that I started to open up more.’   

As so often in sport, Greaves found her voice in the place where she excels: the oche. It’s where she is most comfortable. Where she accesses her superpower and has done ever since her dad and brother took her touring around the pub boards of Doncaster.

Aside from difficulties with blurred vision in her early teens that were corrected by glasses (and have led to a sponsorship deal with Specsavers), and a darting form of the yips that came and went prior to Covid, the roadblocks have been limited.

Sexism? ‘Not really. I’ve had a few women say little stuff, but nothing to bother me.’ Bad reactions from men she has beaten? ‘Nah, my dad and brother are pretty big guys so I don’t think anyone was going to say much when I was younger.’

To hear Greaves talk about the practice regime behind it all is to be reminded of Littler. Some great darts players, like Phil Taylor, built their careers on being chained to the board; others find it all a bit easier.

‘I’m not a big practiser,’ Greaves says. ‘I never was. It’s just boring. It’s not the same as playing properly – there’s nothing worse than when you’ve got no one to practise with, it’s so boring. I do try and throw every day for at least half an hour. Maybe I should practise more. Maybe I’d be better if I did!’   

Half an hour? It’s near identical to what Little told me of his own routine in 2024. ‘Honestly, I swear to God, I never have done more,’ she says. ‘I get up, take the dog out, and in the summer play a bit of golf, in bed by 10pm. I play a lot of pool – I’m into that at the minute – but I have a really simple, boring life, and I love it. I love doing nothing.’   

The mention of golf is interesting – she only took up the game a year ago and has a handicap of 14. That’s very quick. ‘Yeah,’ she says. ‘I can hit a ball.’

Greaves describes Littler (pictured) as a ‘really nice guy’ – the pair first played each other aged 16 and 13 respectively

Understatement is another of those Littler traits, two prodigies who never quite get the fuss around them. As it happens, they first played each other five years ago, when he was 13 and she was 16. ‘He beat me every time,’ she says. ‘He’s just a regular lad, isn’t he? Really nice guy.’   

That’s true. And he returns to the Palace as defending champion and favourite for the £1million jackpot. As for Greaves, the initial challenge is to emulate Fallon Sherrock’s success in 2019 by winning a match in the main draw. She opens against Daryl Gurney on December 19.

Beyond that? She once described the possibility of a female winner as ‘silly’. That stance has been downgraded since she beat Littler and then took Michael van Gerwen to a decider.

‘Plenty of times I’ve gone from saying one thing and doing the complete opposite, that’s what I genuinely believed,’ she says. ‘I don’t think it’s impossible, but I do think it’s extremely hard. I know I’ve got the game to beat anybody, but it’s doing it at the right time, and in the right moment in that scenario up on stage. If I keep playing well, I wouldn’t say it’s impossible for me.’

Decent enough for now.

Beau Greaves is an ambassador for Specsavers