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.
Jones’s various injuries over the years all have one common, singular origin. She was born with the rare genetic condition Ectrodactyly Ectodermal Dysplasia (EEC), which means she has three fingers and a thumb on each hand and seven toes in total. It has come with numerous physical challenges that have affected Jones in her daily life as well as in her pursuit of success as a professional athlete. During her earlier years, while most of her contemporaries progressed as players and matured physically, Jones underwent various surgeries directly related to her condition.
Gaining sufficient strength to compete against the best in the world has naturally represented a significant challenge. However, EEC also affects her tennis on a fundamental level; a basic requirement is the ability to hold on to a racket. If Jones goes a few days without training, upon her return her hands cramp under the strain of gripping the racket.
While she has always openly discussed her condition and she understands why it is such a point of inspiration Jones, 25, has also always been adamant that it does not define or limit her. It is simply a challenge for her to overcome. At the beginning of the new season, she reinforced those sentiments with two statement performances.
In her first match of the year, Jones secured the best victory of her career, defeating world No 15 Emma Navarro in three sets. It was her first win against any player ranked inside the top 40. She followed it up with a demonstration of her boundless determination and grit. Down 6-1, 3-0 and on her way out in round two against Sinja Kraus, Jones improbably turned the match around, winning 11 of the subsequent 13 games to reach the last eight. Auckland marked her fourth career WTA quarter-final.
Having been ruled out with injury so frequently and unable to break into the top 140 for a long time, in recent years Jones has focused on improving her physical durability, working hard on increasing her strength and ensuring she is as prepared for the rigours of her sport as possible.
Those considerable efforts paid off throughout the second half of last season, her momentum and confidence blossoming. She won two WTA 125 events, the tournament category just beneath the regular WTA Tour, and produced a career-best tour result by reaching the semi-final of the São Paulo WTA 250 event. Since the beginning of 2025, she has risen from outside the world top 150 to her current ranking of 72. Her efforts in Auckland will now boost her up inside the top 70 for the first time.
Jones spent her earlier years training at the famous Sánchez Casal Academy in Barcelona, Spain. Having learned Spanish and adapted to the culture, she still spends much of her time there. Her game is also reminiscent of other Spanish players, with Jones’s strengths centred around her heavy topspin forehand and her determination to outwork and fight through all opponents from the baseline. Unlike most of her compatriots, clay is her favourite surface. She has shown numerous times that when she is healthy, she can hold her own against quality opposition.
Away from the court, Jones is kind, sociable and one of the most approachable players on the tour but she is also a fiercely independent and intense individual desperate to unlock her potential. As she has matured, part of her growth has been finding greater balance and an understanding that relaxing and enjoying herself at the appropriate time would have a positive effect on her tennis.
By being inside the top 100, Jones will have the benefit of competing in the main draws of the biggest tournaments against the best players in the world for most of the year. She believes she is capable of much more, but considering the obstacles she has already had to overcome, this alone is an astounding achievement.
Still, progress is rarely straightforward. Jones’s immense efforts in Auckland ended in an achingly familiar scenario as she was forced to retire from her quarter-final match against China’s Wang Xinyu on Friday due to an apparent groin injury while trailing 6-4, 4-3. Still, her debut in 2026 showed that she is the protagonist of one of the truly great sports stories in the world right now. With any luck, it has only just begun.
