Lauren Jones heads into this week's final British-based world ranking wheelchair tennis tournament of 2013 in Nottingham having been inspired by a meeting with Marion Bartoli, ladies singles champion at The Championships, Wimbledon, as well as being boosted by winning her latest women's doubles title in Wrexham.
Jones also put up a career best effort against London 2012 Paralympian Louise Hunt in the women's singles final in Wrexham before finally finishing runner-up to her doubles partner at the penultimate world ranking event of the year in Britain.
The 18-year-old Sussex player recently had the chance to play an exhibition with Bartoli at the Open de la Baie de Somme in France, after being invited to attend the celebrations for a new tennis academy that was being launched in Rue in northern France. Jones says that it was a very special experience that will she will always remember.
"In my first year as a wheelchair tennis player I went to France to take part in an event and met a coach who has kept in touch with me and she rang me to ask if I could go over to France to play with Marion Bartoli and take part in their celebrations," said Jones. "It was all a bit a whirlwind few days, but very exciting to be hitting with the Wimbledon champion. Marion was really lovely and a real inspiration."
Jones returned from France to prepare for her next tournament, where she dropped just three games en route to the women's singles semi-finals at the ITF Futures Wrexham Wheelchair Tennis Tournament before securing her second career win over Turkey's Busra Un 6-3, 6-4. Jones had beaten Un to win her first senior women's singles title at the Antalya Open in Turkey earlier this year and she set about trying to secure another career first as she took the opening set of the final in Wrexham against British No. 3 Hunt.
However, with the two players from the Tennis Foundation's Wheelchair Tennis Performance Programme going head-to-head in a world ranking event final in Wales for the third successive year, Hunt eventually managed to turn the tables for a 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory.
Nevertheless, Jones left Wrexham with a winner's trophy after she and Hunt paired up to justify top seeding in the women's doubles, winning both of their matches with ease.
"I'm very happy that I was able to back up my win against Busra in Antalya in May and it's very encouraging to take my first set off one of the top three British players ranked above me, although I'm disappointed not to have been able to keep that level up in the second and third sets," said world No. 33 Jones, who now lines up for the ITF 1 Series Nottingham Indoor this week at Nottingham Tennis Centre.
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