Eva Lys – opponent Francesca Jones are missing two fingers

Top sport despite the disadvantage

Opponent of German tennis-ace has two fingers less

Eva Lys meets Francesca Jones in the first round of the US Open. A player with a special story.

For Eva Lys, the adventure US Open begins on Tuesday evening with a duel against Francesca Jones. Lys is a light favorite, stands in the world rankings exactly 30 places in front of her British opponent. But Jones is used to being underestimated.

Because the 24-year-old was born with rare EEC syndrome, which caused malformations on hands, feet, teeth and in the jaw area. In 2019 she explained to Sky that she had three toes on the right foot, on the left four and three fingers and a thumb on her hands and also born with a lip and palate crevice. She had to endure ten operations.

Nevertheless, Jones decided Früh not to give up her dream of tennis professional. At the age of ten, she moved from Bradford to Barcelona to train at a tennis academy. The doctors advised her from a career in competitive sports. “That a doctor told me that playing tennis is an almost impossible challenge, powerful,” the BBC Jones quoted a year ago. “My competitive way has brought me here, as well as my determination to keep driving me further.”

Jones made the leap into professional sports, fought through and now also for their first participation in the US Open. In qualifications, she prevailed without loss of sets.

So far, Jones has only celebrated several successes at Challenger and ITF level, and in Flushing Meadows she now wants to make a name for herself. For this she has to pass Eva Lys.