Julie Ditty Qualls (January 4, 1979 – August 31, 2021) was an American professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player. She had her

WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour. WTA Tour tou ...

breakthrough when she reached the semifinals of the

Bell Challenge A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an intern ...

. It took her into the top 100 for the first time in her career, on November 5, 2007, at No. 91. She beat

Alizé Cornet Alizé Cornet (; born 22 January 1990) is a French professional tennis player. Cornet has won six singles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as three singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 16 February 2009, she r ...

and

Vania King Vania King (born February 3, 1989) is an American former tennis player. A former top-ten doubles player, King won both the Wimbledon and US Open women's doubles titles in 2010 with partner Yaroslava Shvedova, with whom she also reached the f ...

before falling to

Julia Vakulenko Julia Olehivna Vakulenko ( uk, Юлія Оле́гівна Вакуленко; born July 10, 1983) is a Ukraine-born female tennis player. She achieved her career-high ranking of No. 32 in November 2007. In April, 2008, Vakulenko renounced her U ...

in three sets. In 2007, she was drafted by the

Boston Lobsters The Boston Lobsters were a World TeamTennis team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Lobsters played home matches at the Walter Brown Arena, Boston University, in Boston, MA. The most recent Boston Lobsters were a reincarnation of two pr ...

of the WTT pro league.

Career

2008

In 2008, Ditty qualified for the

Open Gaz de France Open GDF Suez, formerly Open Gaz de France, was a Premier level tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held in Paris, France. Held from 1993 till 2014, the tournament was played indoors, originally on carpet until 2000, then on hardcourts. The 2014 Ope ...

tournament in Paris where she lost to the No. 6 seed and former world No. 1,

Amélie Mauresmo Amélie Simone Mauresmo (; born 5 July 1979) is a French former world No. 1 tennis player and tournament director. Mauresmo won two major singles titles at the 2006 Australian Open and Wimbledon Championships, and also won the silver medal in s ...

. During the

Proximus Diamond Games The Diamond Games (due to sponsorship known for the last time as BNP Paribas Fortis Diamond Games and before that Proximus Diamond Games, GDF-Suez Diamond Games and Thomas Cook Diamond Games) was a professional women's tennis tournament organis ...

in Antwerp, she made it through the first round by defeating

Alona Bondarenko Alona Volodymyrivna Bondarenko Dyachok ( uk, Альона Володимирівна Бондаренко; born 13 August 1984) is a Ukrainian former tennis player. Her younger sister Kateryna Bondarenko plays on the WTA Tour. Her career-high s ...

, who was seeded eighth, and got to the second round there before falling to qualifier

Timea Bacsinszky Timea Bacsinszky ( hu, Bacsinszky Tímea; born 8 June 1989) is a Swiss former professional tennis player who won four singles titles and five doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as 13 singles and 14 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. A fo ...

5–7, 4–6, after having leads in both sets. Her win over world No. 22, Alona Bondarenko, was best-ever career win. In August, Julie defeated Yuan Meng in the first round at Cincinnati, marking her first win in a WTA Tour main-draw since Antwerp.

2009

Ditty was named to the

United States Fed Cup team The United States women's national tennis team is the most successful national team in Billie Jean King Cup competition. The team has won 18 titles and finished second a further 11 times, out of 55 participations. History The United States won ...

for their match in February against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, after

Bethanie Mattek Bethanie Mattek-Sands ( Bethanie Lynn Mattek; born March 23, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. She has won nine Grand Slam titles (five in women's doubles and four in mixed doubles), and an Olympic gold medal, and is a former w ...

withdrew with an injury; she played doubles with

Liezel Huber Liezel Huber (née Horn; born 21 August 1976) is a South African-American retired tennis player who represented the United States internationally since August 2007. Huber has won four Grand Slam titles in women's doubles with partner Cara Blac ...

. They would win the decisive match for the U.S. team, 6–2, 6–3. Following Fed Cup, Julie lost in the opening round in Midland and in Memphis. She did not play in March. In April, she won her opening main-draw match in Charleston, South Carolina, defeating

Ayumi Morita is a Japanese tennis player. She reached her career-high ranking of number 40 in the world in October 2011. At junior level, she reached a combined career-high ranking of world No. 3. Morita is known for strong and consistent two-handed grounds ...

6–1, 6–1. This would mark her first tour-level win for the year. In her next tournament, a $75k at Dothan, Alabama, Julie retired in her opening round against Yan Zi. In doubles, she partnered with

Carly Gullickson Carly Gullickson (born November 26, 1986) is an American former professional tennis player. Her best singles ranking is No. 123, which she reached in July 2009. Her career-high doubles ranking is No. 52, achieved in April 2006 at age 19. She is ...

to extend her record of

USTA The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, ...

ITF titles to 35 as they would win the doubles title. In May, she entered the singles qualifying draws in Rome, Madrid, Strasbourg, and the French Open, failing to qualify in all four. In Rome, she partnered with

Jill Craybas Jill N. Craybas (born July 4, 1974) is an American former professional tennis player. From the 2000 US Open to the 2011 US Open, Craybas competed in 45 consecutive Grand Slam main draws; her best result coming in the 2005 Wimbledon Championships ...

to win their opening round before falling in the second.

2010

Ditty appeared in the Family Circle Cup, Sony Ericsson Open, and in

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

. She won her first qualifying match against

Margalita Chakhnashvili Margalita "Maka" Chakhnashvili-Ranzinger ( ka, მარგალიტა "მაკა" ჩახნაშვილი, tr, ; born 9 December 1982) is a Georgian former tennis player. Chakhnashvili-Ranzinger won ten singles and five doubles ti ...

, 6–4, 6–3. She then went on to defeat

Jelena Dokić Jelena Dokic ( sr, Јелена Докић, Jelena Dokić; ; born 12 April 1983) is an Australian tennis coach, commentator, writer, and former professional tennis player. Her highest ranking as a tennis player was world No. 4, in August 2002. ...

, 5–7, 7–5, 6–2 to reach the final round of qualifying where she lost a place in the main draw to compatriot Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

2014

In June 2014, Ditty emerged from retirement and led Team Kentucky to a decisive win in the Southern Senior Cup Women's 35 and over division. She followed this up by winning the US Open National Playoff tournament for the Southern section.

Death

Julie Ditty died on August 31, 2021, at the age of 42 after battling

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a r ...

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 14 (9 titles, 5 runners-up)

Doubles: 52 (30 titles, 22 runners-up)

References

Julie Ditty Death

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ditty, Julie 1979 births 2021 deaths American female tennis players Sportspeople from Ashland, Kentucky Tennis players from Atlanta Tennis people from Kentucky Vanderbilt Commodores women's tennis players Deaths from cancer in Kentucky Deaths from breast cancer