During the first weeks of last year’s clay-court season, Francesca Jones found herself fighting through a breathless three-set tussle in Bogotá that was rapidly falling out of her control. Trailing 5-3 in the final set of her second-round match, an exhausted Jones began her service motion. As she tried to leap into the air and strike the ball, however, she staggered forwards and collapsed to the ground. Two points from defeat, she was steered off the court in a wheelchair.
This was an extreme experience for Jones, but it was also painfully reflective of her career until that point. Her biggest adversary has so often been her own body. In 2024 alone, she contested 20 tournaments – seven of which ended in a mid-match retirement and she also withdrew mid-tournament from another event. In 40% of the events she took part in that year, her body simply did not allow her to play tennis.
