British star Fran Jones has enjoyed the best season of her career on the ATP Tour, breaking into the WTA top 100 for the first time.
The 25-year-old, who has been a shining light for British tennis, ended the 2024 WTA Tour season ranked 160 in the world.
At the conclusion of the 2025 WTA Tour campaign, Jones was ranked 77 in the world.
It has been a mightily impressive campaign for the Brit, who has won two WTA titles in Palermo and Contrexeville, respectively.
However, Jones’ time on the professional circuit has not always been smooth sailing. The Brit has struggled with physical issues throughout her career, halting momentum and preventing her from achieving her full potential.
Jones has revealed how these issues have manifested throughout her career, noting that she came close to retiring from the sport.
Fran Jones reveals she was close to quitting tennis at the end of 2024
Jones, who is the British number three behind Emma Raducanu and Sonay Kartal, spoke to former WTA Finals champion Caroline Garcia on the Tennis Insider Club.
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During the discussion, Jones discussed how her physical issues had affected her outlook, leading the Brit to consider retirement at the end of 2024.
Garcia began the discourse, asking the Brit: “In the tough years of your career, were you afraid that you were never going to make it? Not because of your capability on court, but…”
“Yeah, I was. I questioned myself a lot,” Jones replied.
“I know I have this do-or-die mentality. I know I have really strong willpower because I have put myself through a lot but I did question.
“Still to this point, we all have self-doubt, and I think anyone that tells you they don’t is just hiding behind the facade. It’s not realistic.
“I think for me, the challenges have always been physical. I knew that I had the tennis ability and I felt like my game was good enough to be there, and my understanding of tennis… I think I’ve had to think of tennis from such a tactical standpoint because of maybe the lack of physicality. I either understood how to play the player or I had no chance.
“But the physical side wasn’t backing me up for so long and to be honest at the end of last year I was the closest to quitting I’ve ever been.
“It was strange. I think I played like 15 tournaments, I retired from seven and was still ranked like 140. People were telling me that, which I get. 140 as a number isn’t a great number but when you put the context in it, it was still quite a solid effort considering. But I had so many retirements and I got tired of seeing that on my profile you know.
“When I was a kid I used to say ‘I’m never going to retire, I’ll die on the court, I’ll never retire, you’ll never see me retire.’ I’m learning how unrealistic that was! But you know, I was a kid, I can dream.
“Honestly Nadia [Podoroska] was a big reason as to why I kept going at the end of last year. I spent two weeks of my preseason with her and I tried to split my time between preseason and also trying to have days off where it was like in my own headspace. I went hiking in Patagonia one day and I met someone, I met a woman who had no idea what tennis was really and just spoke to her about life. Like I needed these wholesome moments.
“It sounds cliche because I’m not going to say that woman changed my life, she didn’t. But equally I think that those experiences and having someone so close to me on the Tour who’s older than me… kind of just discuss the challenges that she’s faced and discuss over time how she’s had to jump over barriers. I think that’s really helped.
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“But honestly, I think it was just ‘what if?’ I have a mentality of ‘what if’ and that happens from a negative point of view. I think ‘okay, what if this changes?’ I just won two 125’s, what if I lose this momentum?
“But in the same moment I’m like what if you do do it? What if you do do it? Then how are you going to feel then?
“So initially I said this year was going to be my last year on Tour and if I didn’t end the year in the top 100 I was done. And I don’t know if that sense of almost freedom from the attachment of what I needed to be actually is what has helped me have a solid year so far.”
Jones appears to have found a solution in this year, and all tennis fans will hope she can remain fit and healthy moving forward.
Injuries play a major role in any sport, and all too often players are criticised for not being physically ready to compete.
Quite often these scenarios are not the fault of the player, as is the case in Jones’ situation. Tennis fans and pundits would do well to remember this when offering their opinions on a player’s injury status.
Will Fran Jones break into the WTA top 50 in 2026?
Unless her injury issues return, it is hard to envisage Fran Jones not making another leap on the WTA Tour in 2026.
The British star represents one of the most inspirational stories on the Tour, and she has the game to match virtually any opponent ranked higher than herself.
Jones, who was part of Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup Finals team, has moved up to world number 74 despite having not competed since October 29.
She is a player to watch in 2026, and is someone all tennis fans should be supporting as she looks to move further up the rankings.
