Exclusive
Francesca Jones on her career-best season, travelling the world & plans ahead of the Australian Open
A year in the life of a professional tennis player is unlike many others – competing across the world, the weekly grind to climb the rankings and a jam-packed schedule from start to finish.
It’s only when they get to this point in the year – when tournaments start to draw to a close and attention starts to turn to off-season training – that players finally get chance to take stock of another action-packed season on tour.
In the case of British star Francesca Jones, there’s plenty to celebrate and be excited about coming off the back of the most successful season of her career to date.
We caught up with Jones at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton, just hours before she was due to head off for a well-earnt break, to chat about a season of highs, new experiences and opportunities for growth.
“I’ll have two and a half weeks off, which for someone like me is really important,” Jones said. “I give my 120% throughout the year in everything I do so I have to try and respect those days and weeks off, which can sometimes be a challenge.
“Then I’ll start my pre-season and work as hard as I always do – I don’t think I really need to change too much this year.
“I always try and optimise everything I’m doing. I’m a perfectionist so I just apply myself in that environment. I enjoy the pre-season and having the chance to pick at things in my game.”
It’s nice to see the hard work making a difference – that’s not just the work this year but an accumulation of many years, coming back from injuries, etc.
Jones admitted that the time on holiday over the next few weeks will give her the chance to fully reflect on what has been a whirlwind season.
After several years battling injuries, Jones has capitalised on the opportunity to play more of a full schedule this season and has reaped the benefits.
The 25-year-old from Yorkshire won her first two WTA 125 titles in Contrexeville and Palermo, lifted a pair of ITF W75 trophies, played main draw at Wimbledon and the US Open, and broke into the top 100 for the first time in her career.
While the young Brit recognises how far she’s come over the last 12 months, you can sense that she knows there’s much more to come in the future.
“This year has gone on a nice upwards trajectory for me,” she added. “It’s nice to see the hard work making a difference – that’s not just the work this year but an accumulation of many years, coming back from injuries, etc.
“It feels fulfilling in that sense but I’m also much more ambitious than my current situation. I’m very focused on building on that. More than anything, it’s thinking about anything I would have changed from this year and what we can impact throughout the pre-season.
“Availability is the biggest reason that I’ve been able to get to this point in the rankings so far. Even though I’m still playing less than your average player, the way we’ve scheduled the season has been smart – we’ve made good choices.
“Honestly, I think the most fulfilling achievement I had this year was qualifying for the US Open. I think it’s hard to qualify when you’re first seed and it gives you a lot of pressure to try and navigate.
“I think I stayed really composed in that situation. Of course there’s a lot of thoughts to manage but those results really solidified that I belonged at that level.
The reality of climbing up the rankings and competing at the highest level is that it has an impact on your schedule moving forward.
Jones’s results at the very start of the season meant that she played almost an entire year on the WTA Tour, which not only means a step up in the quality of opponent but also extra travel throughout the year.
“I’ve been playing a WTA schedule all year now, I only played two ITFs and I won both of those so it was nice to know that my game has progressed from that level now,” Jones said.
“For the year, there’s a bit more travel and learning how to get the best out of your performances in those scenarios can be difficult. Sometimes you can lose a couple of days training just for travelling, so ensuring you optimise those training days is really important. That’s another step that I’m continuing to work on.
“Personally, I love the travelling, I have no issues with it. I’m quite fresh with the lifestyle in that sense as I’ve only ever done it for a few months of a year so hopefully I can experience that full year on tour now and then we can make even better decisions around schedules moving forward.”
While her mind is on rest and recovery for the next few weeks, Jones will no doubt have one eye on the start of the 2026 season, where she will have the chance to compete once again at the Australian Open.
Four years ago, Jones enjoyed somewhat of a breakthrough run to come through qualifying to make her Grand Slam debut in Melbourne.
Now – ranked as the world No.76 – she’ll most likely have direct entry and the British star is looking forward to playing at The Happy Slam.
“I’ve played main draw there before so it’s nice to already have that experience. Having that main draw entry makes a huge difference not only for that tournament but also to how I will plan for the year.
“The Australian Open is a more laidback experience for the players than some other events, it’s not as chaotic so it’s always good fun.
“The year I qualified it was covid so I spent five weeks in the city so I feel at home a bit more when I’m there now. I’m looking forward to getting back out there.”