Ryan Joyce progressed through to the quarter-finals of the World Grand Prix for the first time in his career after a closely contested 3-2 victory over Nathan Aspinall yesterday evening. The win provisionally moves him into the top 32.
Ryan Joyce survived three match darts to progress to the quarter-finals of the World Grand Prix for the first time in his career.
He also provisionally moves into the top 32 in the PDC Order of Merit for the first time in his professional career making it a landmark occasion for the Newcastle darter.
In arguably the game of the night, Joyce was pushed to a tie-breaking leg by Nathan Aspinall who had the clear support of the crowd behind him at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.
The Asp had the advantage but would miss three match darts across two legs in total, gifting Joyce the opportunity to progress to the next round at the tie breaking leg.
JOYCE WINS A THRILLER!
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) October 9, 2024
What. A. Match!
What drama!
Ryan Joyce survives three match darts to deny Nathan Aspinall and move through to the quarter-finals here in Leicester!
📺 https://t.co/BtWBaRnhB5#WGPDarts | R2 pic.twitter.com/LHdcTIC8QD
In Joyce’s own words, that was in the top 5 games of his career,.
After winning Joyce would state that he is “100% certain that he can win it” also saying:
“I’ve prepared well for this tournament and I’m a dangerous opponent.”
Joyce is quite a chilled out player and man of few words but we’ll include the clip below because Joyce spoke with such out of character conviction that he’s got us thinking he’s got a good chance now as well!
“I’ve prepared well for this tournament, I’m a dangerous opponent!” 👀
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) October 9, 2024
After beating Nathan Aspinall, Ryan Joyce is full of confidence and believes he can go all the way in Leicester.#WGPDarts | @rjoyce180 pic.twitter.com/CzpQFxKnfd
Interestingly though, that wasn’t the most surprising part of his post game interviews. Joyce would also reveal the reason why we don’t see him on the Euro Tour more often…
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Ryan Joyce on the ‘Real’ Reason Why He Doesn’t Play in More European Tours
Ryan Joyce has made it to a televised major at the 2023 Players Championship Finals, but more people would know him for his consistent performances as a floor player on the Pro Tour.
This has a noticeable exception though, in that you don’t see Joyce as much on the Euro Tour.
Not only would he earn more prize money for attending to push himself up the rankings but it would also give him more stage experience in front of decent size crowds.
In his post match interview however, Joyce revealed the reason why he struggles to attend Euro Tours.
Joyce said:
“Anybody watching or listening that doesn’t like flying can understand that it’s a really, really difficult trip for me. Having to get two flights to get to most European Tours, most of the time living in Newcastle.
“It’s difficult.
“Sometimes, it just seems easier not to go and just play on the ProTour in this country.
“I just don’t like flying at all. If I could get the train everywhere I’d go to all of them but it just takes too long.”
See his full post match interview below:
This year has been the most Euro Tours he’s competed in making it to seven in total whereas previous years would only see him attend 2-5 times.
Something you notice though is that he’s attended the tournaments in Holland and Germany where you can get the Ferry, Eurostar train or at worst it’s a short flight over which may explain why he’s been able to attend so many this year.
Now that he’s in the top 32 and may see more opportunities open if he keeps performing to a high standard, this might be something he will need to give serious consideration to.
Players like Dave Chisnall excel on the Euro Tour and you can see that it gives them the form and confidence when going into the bigger televised majors.
If he sees more success this year though, then we think ‘having’ to travel to play in maybe a World Series event would be a nice problem to face if he can look at it that way.
Joyce will now face Rob Cross in the quarter-finals taking place on Friday.
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