Conspiracy floated after British tennis star collapses on court

A British tennis star had to be helped from the court after collapsing midgame in scary scenes, but not everyone was convinced.

British tennis star Fran Jones was forced to retire from her Copa Colsanitas first-round match after collapsing on the court.

The 24-year-old was about to serve in the final set of her match against Julia Riera when she became disorientated and fell to the ground

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She promptly received treatment from nearby medical staff before being taken off in a wheelchair.

A statement was released by tournament organisers shortly after the incident unfolded.

“Due to a physical issue, Francesca Jones has withdrawn from her match against Julia Riera at 6-2 5-7 5-3 in favour of the Argentinian,” the statement read.

“We wish the British tennis player a speedy recovery.”

Jones had appeared to be struggling with her breathing at times during the deciding set of the first-round clash.

She had won the opening set 6-2 before losing the second 7-5 to Riera. The Brit was trailing 5-3 in the decider before she collapsed.

Jones collapsing to the court.

Jones was wheeled off after receiving treatment.

Despite the worrying scenes playing out, some fans online weren’t convinced it was a genuine incident, given one eyebrow-raising conspiracy about the tennis star.

After several people responded to the video claiming Jones was “faking” the collapse, tennis enthusiast Jesse Murphe called out the Brit for retiring from matches she was on the verge of losing.

“How can you feel bad for someone who does this consistently when she’s about to lose … ridiculous it doesn’t get punished such a good actor,” Murphe wrote on X.

The post comes after she had called for Jones to be investigated in November last year, pointing out all the times she had retired in the final stages of matches, in a trend that hinted she was calling it quits before the match could be awarded to her opponents.

On October 30, 2024 Jones was down 6-3, 3-6, 3-5 against Leyre Romero Gormaz when she retired.

A week later she was behind 7-6, 5-0 against Veronika Erjavec when the match ended via retirement.

Murphe posted four other examples of times when Jones had retired with the match on the verge of being decided.

The match was ended after the scary scenes.

While plenty got behind the conspiracy, others were quick to point the finger at a recent match in Mexico which contradicted Murphe’s theory.

At the Merida Open in the Round of 16, Jones was taking on Emiliana Arango and was leading 6-3, 3-6, 4-3 when she was forced to retire from the match.

Others were also quick to highlight Jones’ medical issues with the 24-year-old defying the odds to become a professional tennis player.

She was born without two fingers and three toes due to a rare medical condition called Ectrodactyly Ectodermal Dysplasia Syndrome.

Doctors previously told Jones to give up on her tennis career, but she has since featured at Wimbledon and the Australian Open.

Fellow British tennis player Tara Moore came to Jones’ defence, pointing out the star had only flown into the country the day before her match and had no time to acclimatise with the altitude.

“Honestly disgusting looking at some of the comments about what happened to Fran. She’s an incredible fighter & literally got in last night from a different country to play here. Altitude is no joke,” Moore wrote in response to the conspiracy being floated.

Jones flew into Bogota, Colombia after competing in the ITF W75 tournament in Vacaria, Brazil.

A tournament she won after defeating France’s Leolia Jeanjean 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the final.

Jones sits just outside the top 100. (Photo by Tom Dulat/Getty Images for LTA)

Jones posted an update to her followers on Instagram the day after she was helped from the court.

“Bogota is renowned for its altitude and often takes a few days to adapt,” she wrote.

“Unfortunately upon our arrival Monday afternoon we were unable to practice due to rain and this meant that aside from my low-level pre-match warm-up, my first exposure to the limited oxygen levels at a high intensity was my match.

“As the match went on, I worked hard to give myself the opportunity to stay competitive but progressively struggled, blurry vision eventually leading to collapsing, with no cramp having occurred.

“Overnight, we conducted multiple studies and it seems my heart worked a little too hard on the day but thankfully no longer-term impact.

“Bogota is one of my favourite events of the year and I hope to reconnect in 2026 under different circumstances.

“After a few days’ rest, I will continue to build on the improvements made to date this season. Thank you for the messages and concern.”

Jones is currently ranked world No129 in women’s singles. She achieved a career-high ranking of 123 last month.

- with Emilia Hawkins, The Sun