15 -year-old girl who has battled her way to Junior Wimbledon despite having just three fingers and a thumb on each hand has described her determination to succeed in the game.
Francesca Jones was born with ectrodactyly ectodermal dysplasia syndrome – a rare condition that causes development problems with hands and feet.
Despite leaving her with an abnormally small right hand – her racket hand – and fewer fingers and toes than is usual, she has not allowed her condition to prevent her reaching her first junior grand slam tournament.
Francesca got to Wimbledon following three operations on her wrists in the last year alone and, although she was beaten in her second round match by American teenager Kayla Day, she remains in the doubles.
She said: “If I have to do them [the operations] again, I’ll do them again. I’m 100% into doing this and giving it everything to get to where I want to be in the world.”
Describing the technical impact on her game, she said: “There are small things, like my nail broke today, which happens quite often because I have to hold on to the racket very hard.
“I have three toes on my right foot, which is obviously my dominant foot, so balance had always been a weakness of mine. As I matured, as I got older, I have just worked on that, day in, day out.”
Born in Bradford, she spent much of her early years in and out of hospital and turned to tennis because she was “a bit chubby” and found she was good at it.
Initially she had to have special handles fitted so she could hold the racket. After winning a few tournaments she moved to a tennis academy in Barcelona at the age of nine, hundreds of miles away from her parents, who are financial advisers, in the UK. “They gave their 100% for me, they’re unbelievable parents,” she said.
She was ranked fourth in the world when she was under 14 and had hoped to play at Wimbledon last year, but operations held her back.
She said: “I don’t mind being defined by it because it is something that I am actually proud of, but I am not going to let it get me down in any way because it is not a negative.
“I have had so many people criticise me and say things. That just motivates me more. I just think watch me do it. You have got to keep on using it to your advantage.
“People say that I can’t grip the racket properly and I get called names. I don’t take much notice of it, but again it is using it as a positive. If people can see that I am where I am now and hopefully where I will be in the future with my condition then I am proving a point that I have always wanted to.”
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