"More opportunities should be given to women to play on the big stage": Women's World Matchplay isn't enough for Beau Greaves and co with major plea from commentator

Beau Greaves has become the first woman to win a PDC ranking title, hit a nine-darter on the ProTour and qualify for the European Tour during a groundbreaking 2026 season. Yet even the sport’s leading female player remains restricted to only a handful of appearances on its biggest stages.

That imbalance has been questioned by Sky Sports analyst Chris Murphy following Greaves’ record third Women’s World Matchplay triumph at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens.

The 22-year-old regained the title with a 6-5 victory over Fallon Sherrock, holding her nerve in a deciding leg after the former world finalist had fought back from 5-3 down.

Greaves is beginning to earn entry into major tournaments through the unrestricted PDC rankings, but Murphy believes leading female players need more opportunities to build experience in front of televised crowds.

“She’s going to force her way into some major tournaments through merit, but I still think we’re in a place where more opportunities should be given to women to play on the big stage,” Murphy told the Sky Sports Love the Darts Podcast.

“Whether that is in the form of more women’s majors at other tournaments, like the World Matchplay, or giving the top players from the Women’s Series places in the main majors, I think that needs to happen outside of the World Championship and the Women’s World Matchplay," continued Murphy. “If the opportunity is not there, then it’s very difficult for her to get into a rhythm on stage when, at the moment, she’s restricted to playing on it pretty much two or three times a year.”

Greaves has also acknowledged the gap between her performances on the floor and in televised competition. After winning in Blackpool, she admitted that her stage game still needed to improve despite the historic results she has produced elsewhere.

Her entire Women’s World Matchplay campaign consisted of 26 legs across three matches on a single afternoon. Greaves defeated Kirsi Viinikainen 5-1, survived a deciding leg against Gemma Hayter and then edged past Sherrock in another match that went the distance.

Greaves became the first woman to hit a nine-darter on the PDC ProTour at Players Championship Six in February, completing the perfect leg against Mensur Suljovic.

Two months later, she defeated three former world champions across the closing stages of Players Championship 11. Greaves overcame Rob Cross 6-5 and thrashed Gary Anderson 7-1 before beating Michael Smith 8-7 in the final.

She took out 170 to establish a 6-3 lead against Smith and sealed the title with a 142 checkout in the deciding leg, becoming the first woman to win a PDC ranking tournament.

Another Players Championship semi-final followed in June. Greaves then became the first female player to qualify for a PDC European Tour event, before completing a qualification double by securing places at both the Hungarian Darts Trophy and Czech Darts Open.

Her record in the women’s game remains overwhelming. Greaves won 11 of the opening 16 Women’s Series tournaments of 2026, while a sequence stretching back into the previous season reached 114 consecutive victories before Sherrock finally stopped her in March.

Victory in Blackpool earned Greaves £15,000 and guaranteed her return to the Grand Slam of Darts and PDC World Championship. The European Tour will soon provide another stage on which to test herself, but regular televised opportunities remain far scarcer than her results on the floor.