Fran Jones cries into towel before retiring as French Open dream cut short

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British hopeful Francesca Jones was reduced to tears after being forced to bow out of French Open qualifying on Wednesday due to an unfortunate shoulder injury. The Brit, who suffers from a congenital condition which means she has three fingers and a thumb on each hand, had beaten former Grand Slam semi-finalist Coco Vandeweghe in the opening round and had enjoyed some encouraging results on the clay-court swing before travelling to Roland Garros.

Jones was midway through the first set against Ylena In-Albon on Wednesday when she picked up an apparent shoulder injury, which eventually forced her to retire from the match and bid farewell to her hopes of competing in the French Open until next year. She was spotted crying into her towel in heartbreaking fashion as she sat on the edge of the court before joining fellow British players Heather Watson and Katie Swan in heading out of qualifying.

The incident came at an unfortunate time for Jones, who had only just returned from a year on the sidelines with a range of injury problems and had finally managed to string some matches together before suffering yet another setback. She recently opened up on the mental hardship she experienced throughout her long and painful recovery process, with the 22-year-old still unaware as to whether or not her issues were related in any way to her condition.

“I don’t think I can say yes or no to that to be honest because I wasn’t really given a diagnosis,” Jones told the Daily Mail last month. “In Australia last year I basically started off with a problem in my elbow and then I fractured my foot. Then I had a nerve injury which was peculiar and a mystery to all the doctors.

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“We just knew that it was a nerve issue. It was extremely rare and nothing familiar to me, I just know it’s in my upper body, around my playing arm, I’m still not sure if it has properly healed. For me it’s really been about perseverance. I’ve faced multiple things so it has definitely been challenging, it’s been a long period.”

It remains to be seen whether Jones will be able to make a quick recovery from her latest injury problem over the coming weeks as she eyes a return to the court ahead of qualifying for Wimbledon later this year. She came close to breaking into the world’s top 100 during the latter stages of 2021 before falling away due to her fitness issues and will be hopeful of returning to the fold in the not-too-distant future, as long as she is able to return to her peak condition as a matter of priority.

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Jones has never been one to shy away from a challenge, though, and went on to explain in the same interview last month that she remains determined to keep chipping away in the face of adversity regardless of the challenges that life throws at her.

“We know what we’re signing up for in this sport, I think everyone faces their different aspects and it’s just about accepting it and trying to face it head on, doing what you can within the circumstances you’ve got,” she added.

“I really felt in September 2021 that I was ready to break the top 100. I did three months to prepare for hopefully a big 2022 but it didn’t happen. I have always believed that I will find my way to the top of the game and I’m not really focused on how long it takes.”

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