Tennis star hopes to inspire - 8th February 2021

Britain's Francesca Jones has qualified for the Australian Open. The 20 year old booked her trip to the international tennis competition after she beat Lu Jia-Jing from China.

However, Jones is far from your average tennis professional. She has a condition which affects hands and feet. She was born with 3 fingers on each hand. Much of her childhood was spent in hospital because she needed many operations.

While she was growing up, Jones couldn’t hold her tennis racquet properly. She also struggled with her balance as her right foot has only 3 toes. Doctors believed she would never play tennis professionally.

But Jones didn't let that diagnosis stop her. She continued playing tennis and at the age of 9, the famous Sanchez Casal Academy invited her to train in Barcelona.

Jones hopes her achievements will inspire others with health conditions. “It would be great to have that positive impact on younger kids and people that are in similar positions to me," she said.

However, Jones stresses that she is like any other professional athlete. "I’m another tennis player here that has similar goals with the other players here," she explained.

The first game of the Australian Open takes place on 8th February in Melbourne.