Like any professional tennis player, Fran Jones has high goals such as “becoming the best in the world” or “winning Wimbledon”.
The 20-year-old Briton gives herself the right to dream.
Except that Fran Jones is not a player like the others.
The current 244th world has to deal with malformations in the hands and feet, a rare genetic disease with the barbarous name of ectrodactyly-ectodermal dysplasia-cleft lip and palate syndrome.
To sum up, she is affected by an anomaly in embryonic development (ECC syndrome) whereby she has only three fingers and one thumb on each hand and three toes on her right foot and four on her left foot, which were all webbed. At his birth.
“My syndrome is very rare.
It's complicated because there are many symptoms, ”said the British player, in a video published by the International Federation (ITF).
In a recent interview with The
Times
, she elaborated: “I'm so used to pain that I consider it part of what I have to deal with on a day-to-day basis, just like any player has to deal with minor injuries.
I have to take care of myself a little more than the others maybe, but I don't mind.
Either way, I have a high pain threshold.
It's part of me. ”
“Without this syndrome, my motivation would not have been the same. In a way, it helped me. ”
Fran jones
In Dubai, at the beginning of January, the native of Leeds validated her ticket for the Australian Open.
A first on the big circuit in her young career, she who had failed twice in the first round of qualifying for Wimbledon in 2018 and 2019 and was titled five times on the secondary circuit (ITF).
In spite of everything, she silenced the skeptics.
At the age of 10, she left her native Yorkshire to join Barcelona and the Sánchez-Casal academy where she perfected her tennis education: “Without this syndrome, my motivation would not have been the same.
In a way, it helped me.
The doctors told me I couldn't play tennis.
And my reaction was 'since you said that, I'm going to prove you wrong'. ”
She's not sure how many surgeries she's had, but “it's definitely double digits.
There were so many surgeries that I got used to it, she told The
Times
.
My body is not intended to become that of an athlete.
I didn't suffer because it was almost part of my daily life.
It's part of who I am. ”
A big problem of balance
He had to do very specific work to prevent injuries and strengthen the joints surrounding his weaknesses.
His syndrome poses him in particular "a big problem of balance".
“When you have fewer toes, it's harder to put weight on your feet,” she continues.
To find her stability on the courts she blew that she was running
"A little differently".
She must also tighten the grip of her racquet very tightly, the handle of which is light and small.
Impossible is not Fran Jones.
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Australian Open: born with 4 fingers on each hand, Fran Jones tries to qualify
