How Jones went from retirement plan to career-best year

Francesca Jones might be studying for university courses while she is at home in a different universe.

The 25-year-old Briton is instead gearing up for the Australian Open after a transformative tennis season that gave her new life.

Jones has defied the odds to compete against the best, thanks to a rare genetic condition that causes her to have a modified grip.

The 71-year-old woman had three fingers and a thumb on each hand, three toes on her right foot, and four toes on her left because she was born with Ectrodactyly Ectodermal Dysplasia (EEC).

The Yorkshire-born player’s physical difficulties have persisted throughout her career, and doctors have advised her to stop playing professionally.

If her performance and ranking did not improve in the following season, Jones made the decision to retire after 2024 and finding herself outside the top 150.

Instead, she hoped to make 2025 her best year of a career and will look to do the same when she squares off against Linda Klimovicova, a Polish qualifier, on Monday in her Melbourne opener.

“I was thinking about retiring very seriously.” For the first time in a Grand Slam, Jones said, “It was a case of going all out for one more year.”

I wouldn’t have stopped if I had been [ranked] 101. But I had this feeling.

The ultimatum was a remarkable success.

In July, Jones won the biggest title of her career, a WTA 125 match held just below the main tour, and then claimed yet another title to top the rankings.

She made her first major-drawing appearance at the US Open in August, overcoming three rounds to become the top seed.

Then, for the biggest ranking win of her career, Jones stunned American world number 15 Emma Navarro in the opening ceremony this year.

When Jones questioned her on what course of action she might have taken if she had retired, Jones said it was interesting to work in a “fast-decision making” field.

In the course of the coronavirus pandemic, she took exams to work as a financial adviser and traveled to Oxford University’s colleges with Emma Raducanu in 2024.

I’ve always been a student. It was always important to me to ensure that I could use my brain somewhere else, Jones said.

I don’t believe you can replicate tennis’s challenge and stimulation with essentially anything else.

When the tour ends, Jones believes she will embark on a “passion project” before making a decision about where to go with her life.