World stage will be a huge test for Joyce
RYAN Joyce will be entering new territory when he makes his PDC World Championships bow tonight.
Not only will Joyce be taking to the Alexandra Palace stage for the first time, he does so against threetime BDO Ladies world champion Anastasia Dobromyslova.
Following the tournament’s expansion to 96 players this year, the PDC offered up two spots for female players.
Russia’s Dobromyslova won the rest of world qualifier to book her place at Alexandra Palace and was drawn against Tyne and Wear star Joyce in round one.
On Thursday’s opening night, reigning BDO ladies world champion Lisa Ashton received vociferous support from the crowd during her 3-1 defeat to Jan Dekker.
Dekker was visibly affected by the extra support which came Ashton’s way but managed to hold it together to move through to round two.
It will be interesting to see whether Joyce’s clash with Dobromyslova pans out in a similar fashion - and he admits the draw has added an extra bit of pressure.
He said: “There is definitely extra pressure.
“There is a lot more pressure than any other normal game but, just like in every other game I have played, that is when I feel I have played my best darts - when the pressure is on.
“I would not be any good if I could not play under pressure.”
Joyce made the switch to the PDC earlier this Ryan Joyce, pictured right after facing Martin Adams in the BDO World Championships last year, makes the step up to the PDC World Championships tonight
year as he won through January’s Q-School to secure a tour card.
He made a semi-final and a quarter-final in his first three months on tour and has qualified for four European Tour events, as well as the Players Championship finals in his opening year on the circuit.
Prior to making the switch, Joyce plied his trade on the BDO circuit. He won the 2017 Gold Cup and was beaten by three-time World Champion Martin Adams in his only
appearance at the BDO World Championships after beating Dennis Nilsson in the preliminary round.
‘Relentless’ hopes to draw on his Lakeside experience when he takes to the stage but admits the PDC is a totally different beast - both in terms of the stage experience and the phenomenal financial reward.
He added: “It was a little easier to qualify this year than other years with them
expanding the qualification parameters. I am happy with the way it is going. I cannot complain about the year I have had. I have put a lot more practice in than normal with so much money to play for - even in the first round. It is almost a yearly wage just for winning one game. “I hope it (his experience at Lakeside) will help me but it has been a long time since I have been on the big stage properly. I am excited about getting back on the stage and experiencing it all again. “It will be different to playing at Lakeside but I think it will not be too much different to playing on the European Tour. Some of those have five, six thousand people in.”