Josh Rock hoping to emulate Peter Wright's recent success at the Grand Slam of Darts: "He's gone through the whole year not playing his best darts and then won a major"

For the first time in his career, Josh Rock is into a major TV quarter-final. The Northern Irish number one comfortably defeated Krzysztof Ratajski 10-5 on Wednesday night.

Having not won a TV match all year before the start of the 2023 Grand Slam of Darts, this run represents a marked upturn in results for Rock, event though he's still not totally happy with his performance levels. “I think my celebration said it all,” he reflected post-match. “I knew I hadn’t got through to a quarter-final on the major stage before, but I managed to control the nerves and get the win, so I’m happy. This is a big moment. I wasn’t at my best in the group stage, so I knew I had to pick my game up against Krzysztof and I did that.”

In his post-match press conference, Rock went into more depth about how the pressures of reaching that first major quarter-final were very much on his mind in the finale of the match. "It was on my mind because I was like, 'You haven't got through to a quarter yet on a major stage'. So I should have had a 10-dart leg to get it over and done with but I mucked it up and it affected me in the next leg but luckily I controlled myself and got the winning double."

Referencing his poor TV form this year, Rock doesn't believe it has any relevance on whether or not he can take overall victory at the Grand Slam. "Look at Peter Wright he's gone through the whole year not playing his best darts and then won a major (the European Championships ed.), maybe I can do that," 'Rocky' assesses.

"People might start talking about me again now but it doesn't phase me. I've had that all through my first year in the PDC where they were talking about me. Now it's Luke Littler and Gian van Veen, so let them have the fame."