"There's a lot more in the tank": Ricky Evans promises Grand Prix fight

The ever-confident Northamptonshire thrower sealed his Dublin spot by reaching the Dutch Darts Championship final. Evans makes his Grand Prix debut in October, and he believes that he could start in style. However, five-time world champion and PDC legend Raymond van Barneveld is a monumental to navigate. “There’s not many harder draws to get but I fancy my chances,” Evans told the Northants Telegraph. “It’s one of those tournaments that the top players sometimes struggle in early on because of it being double-in and a short format in the first round." Van Barneveld negotiated the first round in 2017, but was stunned in the second by eventual semi-finalist John Henderson. Evans wants to follow in the big Scot's footsteps; he knows that it's possible. “I don’t see why I can’t give it a go, I have got there on merit," he asserted. “To be honest, I would have never thought I would make it there. If you’d told me in June that I would have qualified for it I wouldn’t have believed it. “It just goes to show what one good run in a tournament can do for you and what I did in Maastricht has made my year really because now I am in everything." His Dutch Darts Championship was a milestone moment. For Evans, it was a first European Tour final, and his first PDC stage final. It certainly left an impression on the quickest thrower in the professional game. “I’m still a bit speechless about that weekend even now to be honest," he revealed. “I think I can play better than I did, there is a lot more in the tank. “But it was nice to get that bit of luck with players missing doubles against me, instead of it being the other way round.”