Beau Greaves has opened up about the special bond she shares with Michael van Gerwen, recalling how the three-time world champion still remembers playing her when she was just 12 years old. Speaking to talkSPORT, the 22-year-old revealed that van Gerwen makes a point of speaking to her on the PDC tour, a gesture she deeply appreciates as the only female player on the circuit.
Greaves first met van Gerwen almost a decade ago when she was a 12-year-old prodigy backed by the BBC after bursting onto the scene in 2016. The pair later crossed paths at the Grand Slam of Darts, where they were drawn in the same group. Greaves averaged 101.47 before losing 5-4 in a very tight match, eventually being knocked out. Reflecting on that encounter, she said: “When I was in his group at the Grand Slam, I was like this is the time where it is all coming back into place. I have worked hard to get myself into that position, then be able to play, so that was nice.”
What made the moment even more special was that van Gerwen remembered their first meeting. “It was funny because when I saw him at the time, he said he still remembered playing me, and it was great that I stuck with it and came through,” Greaves stated. “Stuff like that, when you are 12, you don’t realise where you will be in ten years. I was so happy when I look back, I was in the position I was in, and I stuck with it. Now I am on the same tour as him and playing him, which is cool.”
Greaves, now a Tour Card holder and the dominant force in women’s darts with 55 Women Series titles, became the first woman to win a PDC ranking title at Players Championship 11, taking out a spectacular 142 to defeat Michael Smith in a last-leg decider. She noted that van Gerwen’s kindness extends beyond the oche: “The thing is, with me being the only girl on tour, he always makes a point to talk to me, which I think is nice. I am the only girl there now, so it is different, I am not in with a lot of them. So it is nice he always says hi, I appreciate that.”
