2021 Grand Slam of Darts: Day One Preview
Day one at the 2021 Grand Slam of Darts will see all the 32 players in the field play.
There are two sessions at the Aldersley Leisure Village in Wolverhampton, as players in Groups A-D play their opening matches in the afternoon. Groups E-H have their opening matches in the evening.
With all the games first to five legs, the short sharp format could see plenty of upsets take place throughout the day.
Here’s what to look out for on day one of the 2021 Grand Slam of Darts.
Price and Clayton headline day session
World number one and World Champion Gerwyn Price is one of the big names to play in Saturday’s first session. He takes on Nathan Rafferty, who took the UK Development Tour spot after finishing second behind Bradley Brooks.
Brooks, the World Youth Champion, takes on Mervyn King in Group B, but the big game in that group comes later on. Rusty-Jake Rodriguez, who earned twice as much as everyone else on the European Development Tour, takes on Jonny Clayton, who’s won four titles on TV this year.
Another mouth-watering tie comes up in Group A, as Krzysztof Ratajski takes on Martin Schindler. Elsewhere, James Wade takes on UK Challenge Tour winner Jim Williams and Rob Cross plays Boris Krcmar in Group C.
In Group D, Chris Dobey faces one half of the Austrian World Cup of Darts team in Rowby-John Rodriguez, while the 2021 Grand Slam of Darts starts with Stephen Bunting against Ryan Joyce.
Sherrock, Ashton and Van Barneveld begin campaigns in night session
The two qualifiers from the PDC Women’s Series are among a start studded line up on opening night. Fallon Sherrock takes on world number two Peter Wright in Group E, while Lisa Ashton opens her campaign in Group G against Michael van Gerwen.
Elsewhere in those groups, Gabriel Clemens v Mike De Decker in Group E opens up the evening session in Wolverhampton. Joe Cullen takes on John Henderson in Group G after the van Gerwen v Ashton match.
The Barney Army will have to wait until the final game of the day to see their hero back on the Grand Slam of Darts stage, as Raymond van Barneveld plays Michael Smith in what should be a fantastic game. Elsewhere in that group, Gary Anderson opens his bid to win a first title at this event against World Youth Championship runner up Joe Davis.
Finally, Group F looks to be the hardest group to call, with two excellent games to come. Defending champion Jose De Sousa plays EU Challenge Tour winner Matt Campbell, while Luke Humphries takes on Mensur Suljovic.
How can I follow the 2021 Grand Slam of Darts?
The Grand Slam of Darts will be shown live on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland. If you’re outside the UK or Ireland, you can watch it via the PDC broadcast partner in your country, such as RTL or DAZN.
You can also live stream the event. Find out more here.
We’ll have you covered here at Online Darts, with reaction with every winner of every game direct from Wolverhampton. Head over to our YouTube channel and hit subscribe so you don’t miss a video.
We’ll have a live blog for you every session of the tournament, so you don’t miss a moment even if you can’t watch live.
Plus, we give regular updates on:
We’ll also produce The Fallout Bar. After play, our team will get you caught up on all the stories of the day, plus have interviews from the players throughout. It will be broadcast live on our YouTube channel after play, and then as a podcast the following morning.
Follow all the drama of the Grand Slam of Darts with us here at Online Darts.
