BRIT GRIT – the rise of Fran Jones and the British tennis aces
The word ‘inspirational’ is bandied around a lot – maybe too much – when describing sportswomen. But there really is no other adjective that adequately sums up Britain’s current number three ranked player, Fran Jones.
So what are Jones’ chances – and her fellow Brits’ odds – of doing well in the new tennis season, starting with the first major of 2026, the Australian Open? Helen M Jerome investigates.
If you want to follow in the footsteps of any British tennis players, then Sir Andy Murray and Emma Raducanu would probably be top of your list. Fran Jones took a leaf out of Murray’s playbook by moving to Spain at the age of nine – without her parents – to improve her tennis. And this Yorkshire farmer’s daughter not only grew to love clay courts, but also became bilingual and bicultural in the process.
As for top-ranked Brit Raducanu, she and Jones are hype friends on the tennis circuit. They speak every day, and not just about tennis. It could be about anything from their shared passion for finding new restaurants to “if there’s something that’s bothering me or bothering her then we’ll discuss it.”
Rare Talent
When talking about her own health and fitness, Fran Jones understates it by saying she’s “been dealt a different set of cards”. In fact, she was born with a thumb and three fingers on each hand, and with only seven toes, as a result of a very rare genetic condition, ectrodactyly-ectodermal dysplasia-cleft syndrome (EEC).
With just three toes on her right foot, this can often affect her balance on and off court. Yet she’s defied the naysayer doctors who told her a career in tennis was highly unlikely.
Her unique mixture of Yorkshire grit and Spanish humility would already make Jones remarkable, but managing her medical condition on top of this makes her unique. She works hard and wears her heart on her sleeve during matches. And she never gives up; declaring it’s never over “until you’re giving your hand to the opponent, right? So that fight and that grit definitely stems from knowing that I’m different and I embrace that.”
Fast Start
Jones had the best possible start to the 2026 season by defeating world No 15 Emma Navarro in the first round of the ASB Classic in Auckland. She won 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in just over two and a half hours to secure her place in the second round – which was a fabulous follow-up to her breakthrough 2025 season.
Last year Jones won two WTA 125 titles in Contrexeville and Palermo, lifted two ITF W75 trophies in Prague and Vacaria, played in the main draw at Wimbledon and the US Open, and crashed into the top 100 for the first time, but beating Navarro was the biggest win of her career so far.
Typically modest, she said both herself and Navarro were trying to find their feet this early in the season. “For me, just having the right attitude in the first match coming into the year is the most important thing, so thankfully I did that.” In Jones’ unpredictable rollercoaster career, an injury meant that even though she reached the Auckland quarter finals, she had to retire with a thigh injury. But overall, her progress has been amazing.
Sink or Swim
Jumping back to her start in tennis, she first took up a racket aged five, always improving, then becoming gripped by the game a couple of years later. Despite the operations and setbacks she faced, Jones pushed on. She was relentless.
Her move to Spain was sink or swim. On her own, in a strange land with a different language, a lesser person might have folded. She embraced the situation, and grew as she learned to become independent and problem solve by herself.
This has informed her character and her on-court mentality. She feels lucky that this is her job, and gives her a daily objective. And when she steps on the tennis court “I know that I can be on there alone and I trust myself to deal with the situations.”
Fighting Talk
Going from her most successful season into the new year, Jones has enjoyed the 2026 pre-season – as always – after taking a fortnight off, then pressing reset ahead of the antipodean tournaments and the ‘Happy Open’ in Melbourne. The self-confessed perfectionist is now ready to fight to fulfil her potential and “give my 120%”.
For Jones, her unbelievable 2025 has made up for all the years of hard work and endlessly bouncing back from injuries. But she still wants more. She is “much more ambitious than my current situation” and is focused on building on it. Main thing has been her availability, and it’s been hard to rise up the rankings when she’s played less than many other competitors. So she and her team have been strategic in her scheduling, targeting specific tournaments. And it’s paid off.
The higher you rise, the better opponents you face, and the more you travel on the WTA Tour, so it’s lucky that Jones has no issues with travelling. Which now includes going to the hard courts of Melbourne, and direct entry into the Australian Open for the first time, having previously gone through the qualifiers.
In the first round, Fran Jones plays a qualifier, Poland’s Linda Klimovicova, and the winner seems likely to meet the 12th seed, Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in the next round.
Emma Raducanu
Now ranked 29 in the world, Emma Raducanu is once more on the rise – just like her friend Fran Jones. Consistency is key; and getting to the semifinals in Washington and the quarters in Miami have helped propel Raducanu to her highest ranking in three years. She also made her United Cup debut, and put up a good fight against Maria Sakkari. Again, much like Jones, she has struggled with injury, but if she can keep fit, then she should rise yet again, perhaps into the Top 20.
In the first round, she plays Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew. And if Raducanu gets through the first two rounds, she will almost certainly face Aryna Sabalenka, in what could be a cracker.
Sonay Kartal
Britain’s No. 2 Sonay Kartal burst into the nation’s consciousness when reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2025, and she briefly saw rose to a world No. 44 ranking. She’s now ranked 68 in the world, just above Jones at 72. She also reached her first WTA 1000 quarter-final at the China Open after her biggest career win (so far) over world No. 5 Mirra Andreeva. Like her fellow Brits, her mental focus and grit are second-to-none on court. As she says: “If you can look down the other end from me you wouldn’t know whether I’m winning or losing.”
In the first round, Kartal plays 31st seed, Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya.
Katie Boulter
This has not been Katie Boulter’s best year, dropping down to a world ranking of 113. She has, however, been given a surprising wildcard entry to the Australian Open due to withdrawals from the likes of Qinwen Zheng and Veronika Kudermetova. So she’s managed to skip the tricky qualifying process. Having seen her triumph in the singles at Nottingham in the past, and witnessed her enjoying her doubles alongside Raducanu last year at Queens, it feels like only a matter of time before she’s on the rise again.
First round, however, Boulter plays Belinda Bencic, the on-form No 10 seed. So it’s going to take a huge performance from KB to come through this.
Get all the Australian Open results and info online https://ausopen.com/. And watch live across TNT Sports, Discovery.
Photos: Helen M Jerome, Instagram
