\n The 25-year-old has had a torrid year, with a leg injury and concussion keeping her off the court and pushing her back outside the top 100.\n<\/p>\n
\n That meant it was little surprise she could not contain her emotions after battling from a set down to defeat former semi-finalist Beatriz Haddad Maia 1-6 7-6 (4) 6-2 at a sweltering Roland Garros.\n<\/p>\n
\n A sobbing Jones rushed to the side of the court to embrace mum Adele and dad Simon, who have been her biggest supporters in her remarkable journey.\n<\/p>\n
\n Born with Ectrodactyly Ectodermal Dysplasia, a genetic condition that means she only has three fingers and a thumb on each hand and seven toes across both feet, Jones forged ahead with a tennis career against the odds.\n<\/p>\n
\n And, on her seventh occasion in the opening round of a grand slam, the Bradford District star was finally able to claim victory.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cShe kept believing in herself,\u201d said a delighted Adele. \u201cShe\u2019s had such a bad year with all the injuries and everything.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s just maintaining that belief, and that\u2019s what we were trying to say to her then at the side of the court.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe don\u2019t coach, we don\u2019t know anything about tennis, just believe in your body, believe in yourself.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe\u2019re so proud of her and we\u2019re just so happy for her. She really deserves this.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI get told off all the time, and I will do now,\u201d added Simon.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI always say the wrong things, but she can hear us, that\u2019s the main thing.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cShe\u2019s such a fighter and she always has been.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Fran Jones almost beat Petra Martic in the first round at Wimbledon in 2024, but she had to battle through the pain barrier as the match wore on and ultimately lost it in three sets. (Image: John Walton\/PA Wire)\n<\/p>\n
\n Jones was emotional in her post-match press conference too, saying: \u201cNormally I\u2019m one to say you shouldn\u2019t cry until the tournament is over but I think, everything I\u2019ve been through this year, it\u2019s really been challenging.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI think it\u2019s been really tough on my parents throughout the whole concussion process as they\u2019ve been on the other side of the world.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI can\u2019t speak much about it (she is taking legal action after a freak gym accident), but it was in the US, so it\u2019s tough for them, with me being in different time zones, calling from hospitals, and not understanding bloody American medical insurance s***e.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt was a real challenge, and I think they\u2019ve just suffered with me, even from a distance.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cOf course, you can look at the bigger picture, but, truly, the emotion for me isn\u2019t about the bigger picture. It\u2019s much more about how tough this year has been.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n For much of the contest, Jones, who grew up in the Bradford District but moved to Barcelona to train at the age of nine, looked second best against Brazilian Haddad Maia.\n<\/p>\n
\n The 29-year-old reached the last four here three years ago but has slid down the rankings to 105, three spots below Jones, and the British player worked her way back into the contest.\n<\/p>\n
\n Jones was 4-2 down in the second set but began to find some momentum, putting behind her the disappointment of seeing two set points slip away to claim the tie-break.\n<\/p>\n
\n She trailed 2-0 in the deciding set as well but from there did not look back, reeling off six games in a row.\n<\/p>\n
\n Jones also shared a long embrace at the net with Haddad Maia, who she described later as a \u201cbig sister\u201d figure.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Oxenhope native will look to add to her breakthrough win in the next round against Czech Marie Bouzkova, that game taking place tomorrow.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI know I\u2019m dangerous on this surface,\u201d said Jones. \u201cI know I\u2019ve not been on my best form, but it gives you belief.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIf we go back to the fact that I was told I couldn\u2019t play tennis, when you\u2019re winning matches in the main draws of slams and beating someone that was 10 in the world, it kind of nips that in the bud a bit.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cOf course, it\u2019s a monumental moment but, don\u2019t get me wrong, I\u2019ll be going after the next match.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI hope I can do this more often to keep getting the message across more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 25-year-old has had a torrid year, with a leg injury and concussion keeping her off the court…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-606182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}