Julie Halard-Decugis

Julie Halard-Decugis

Country (sports)	France
Residence	Pully, Switzerland
Born	(1970-09-10) 10 September 1970 (age 54) Versailles, France
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Turned pro	1986
Retired	2000
Plays	Right-handed (two handed-backhand)
Prize money	US$ 3,081,132
Singles
Career record	386–233
Career titles	12
Highest ranking	No. 7 (14 February 2000)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	QF (1993, 2000)
French Open	QF (1994)
Wimbledon	4R (1992)
US Open	4R (1999)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	1R (1999, 2000)
Olympic Games	3R (2000)
Doubles
Career record	253–156
Career titles	15
Highest ranking	No. 1 (11 September 2000)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	QF (2000)
French Open	SF (1994, 2000)
Wimbledon	F (2000)
US Open	W (2000)
Other doubles tournaments
Tour Finals	QF (2000)
Olympic Games	QF (2000)
Mixed doubles
Career record	5–9
Career titles	0
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open	QF (1996)
French Open	3R (1995)
Wimbledon	3R (2000)
US Open	1R (1998)

Julie Halard-Decugis (born 10 September 1970) is a French former professional tennis player.

Tennis career

Halard-Decugis lived in La Baule, France, during the initial stages of her career and later moved to Pully, Switzerland. She turned professional in 1986. She won the French Open junior singles title in 1988 and was the Wimbledon junior singles runner-up in 1987. She retired from the WTA Tour tennis circuit at the end of the 2000 season. ^[1] Her highest WTA Tour singles and doubles rankings was number seven and number one respectively. She had been coached by Arnaud Decugis since 1989.

Halard-Decugis won her first WTA Tour singles title in Puerto Rico. She enjoyed her best season in 1996, when she won her first WTA Tour Tier II singles title in Paris and finished the year with a career-high season-ending singles ranking of No. 15 and as the No. 1 singles player from France. This occurred despite the fact that her playing schedule in the second half of 1996 was curtailed because of a wrist injury sustained during the Fed Cup semifinal match against Spain. She only played two tournaments in late 1997 because of injuries.

By winning the singles title in Rosmalen in 1998, she became the 20th player to have won singles titles on all four surfaces in the Open Era. Halard also won the singles and doubles titles in Pattaya that year, and broke into the top 10 singles ranking in August 1999, becoming the fifth Frenchwoman after Françoise Dürr, Mary Pierce, Nathalie Tauziat and Amélie Mauresmo to do so. In 1999, she won WTA Tour singles titles in Auckland and Birmingham and was runner-up on three other occasions. ^[2] Between 15 November 1999 and 9 January 2000, Julie Halard, Nathalie Tauziat, Amélie Mauresmo and Mary Pierce were all ranked inside the singles top 10, the first time France had four players ranked among the singles top 10.

2000 was to be the final and perhaps the finest year of Halard's professional playing career. She reached the Australian Open singles quarterfinal for the second time, captured the second WTA Tour Tier II title of her career in Eastbourne and reached her career-high singles ranking of No. 7 in February. Halard was also runner-up in Tokyo's Princess Cup in October and won the doubles title with Ai Sugiyama. The following week, she won both the singles and doubles titles at the Japan Open in Tokyo, saving three match points in the final to defeat the defending champion Amy Frazier.

On her 30th birthday, Halard won the 2000 US Open women's doubles title with Ai Sugiyama, her only Grand Slam title as a professional. The pair also reached the final at Wimbledon, the semifinal at the French Open and the quarterfinal at the Australian Open that year. Halard-Decugis won nine other doubles titles in 2000, five of them with Sugiyama, and became the first Frenchwoman to attain the No. 1 doubles ranking in the Open Era. Halard-Decugis represented her country in the Federation Cup Fed Cup from 1990 to 2000 and in the Olympic Games in 1992 and 2000.

Personal life

She married her coach, Arnaud Decugis, on 22 September 1995. ^{[3] [4]} Arnaud Decugis is the great nephew of Max Decugis, a leading tennis player from France during the early 20th century. The couple have three children^{[ citation needed ]}

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	2000	Wimbledon	Grass	Ai Sugiyama	Serena Williams Venus Williams	3–6, 2–6
Win	2000	US Open	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	Cara Black Elena Likhovtseva	6–0, 1–6, 6–1

WTA career finals

Singles: 21 (12 titles, 9 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments
Virginia Slims
Tier I
Tier II
Tier III
Tier IV & V

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Oct 1987	Athens Open, Greece	Clay	Katerina Maleeva	0–6, 1–6
Loss	0–2	Aug 1991	Albuquerque, U.S.	Hard	Gigi Fernández	0–6, 2–6
Win	1–2	Oct 1991	San Juan Open, Puerto Rico	Hard	Amanda Coetzer	7–5, 7–5
Win	2–2	Apr 1992	Taranto Trophy, Italy	Clay	Emanuela Zardo	6–0, 7–5
Loss	2–3	Feb 1994	Paris Indoors, France	Carpet (i)	Martina Navratilova	5–7, 3–6
Win	3–3	Apr 1994	Taranto, Italy	Clay	Irina Spîrlea	6–2, 6–3
Win	4–3	May 1995	Prague Open, Czech Republic	Clay	Ludmila Richterová	6–4, 6–4
Win	5–3	Jan 1996	Hobart International, Australia	Hard	Mana Endo	6–1, 6–2
Win	6–3	Feb 1996	Paris, France	Carpet (i)	Iva Majoli	7–5, 7–6(7–4)
Loss	6–4	Feb 1996	Linz Open, Austria	Carpet (i)	Sabine Appelmans	2–6, 4–6
Loss	6–5	May 1998	Internationaux de Strasbourg, France	Clay	Irina Spîrlea	6–7(5–7), 3–6
Win	7–5	Jun 1998	Rosmalen Championships, Netherlands	Grass	Miriam Oremans	6–3, 6–4
Win	8–5	Nov 1998	Pattaya Open, Thailand	Hard	Li Fang	6–1, 6–2
Win	9–5	Jan 1999	Auckland Open, New Zealand	Hard	Dominique Monami	6–4, 6–1
Loss	9–6	Apr 1999	Bol Ladies Open, Croatia	Clay	Corina Morariu	2–6, 0–6
Loss	9–7	May 1999	German Open, Berlin	Clay	Martina Hingis	0–6, 1–6
Win	10–7	Jun 1999	Birmingham Classic, UK	Grass	Nathalie Tauziat	6–2, 3–6, 6–4
Loss	10–8	Aug 1999	Los Angeles Classic, U.S.	Hard	Serena Williams	1–6, 4–6
Win	11–8	Jun 2000	Eastbourne International, UK	Grass	Dominique Monami	7–6(7–4), 6–4
Loss	11–9	Oct 2000	Tokyo Cup, Japan	Hard	Serena Williams	5–7, 1–6
Win	12–9	Oct 2000	Tokyo Championships, Japan	Hard	Amy Frazier	5–7, 7–5, 6–4

Doubles: 25 (15 titles, 10 runner-ups)

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Sep 1991	Clarins Open Paris, France	Clay	Alexia Dechaume	Petra Langrová Radka Zrubáková	4–6, 4–6
Loss	0–2	Apr 1994	Barcelona Open, Spain	Clay	Nathalie Tauziat	Larisa Neiland Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	2–6, 4–6
Win	1–2	Aug 1994	Los Angeles Classic, US	Hard	Nathalie Tauziat	Jana Novotná Lisa Raymond	6–1, 0–6, 6–1
Win	2–2	Sep 1994	Tokyo International, Japan	Hard	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Amy Frazier Rika Hiraki	6–1, 0–6, 6–1
Win	3–2	Jan 1996	Auckland Open, New Zealand	Hard	Els Callens	Jill Hetherington Kristine Kunce	6–0, 6–1
Loss	3–3	Feb 1996	Paris Indoors, France	Carpet (i)	Nathalie Tauziat	Kristie Boogert Jana Novotná	4–6, 3–6
Loss	3–4	Mar 1996	Indian Wells Open, US	Hard	Nathalie Tauziat	Chanda Rubin Brenda Schultz	1–6, 4–6
Loss	3–5	Sep 1997	Tokyo Cup, Japan	Hard	Chanda Rubin	Monica Seles Ai Sugiyama	1–6, 0–6
Loss	3–6	Jan 1998	Auckland Open, New Zealand	Hard	Janette Husárová	Nana Miyagi Tamarine Tanasugarn	6–71, 4–6
Loss	3–7	Jan 1998	Hobart International, Australia	Hard	Janette Husárová	Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez	6–76, 3–6
Win	4–7	Jun 1998	Birmingham Classic, UK	Grass	Els Callens	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	2–6, 6–4, 6–4
Win	5–7	Nov 1998	Pattaya Open, Thailand	Hard	Els Callens	Rika Hiraki Aleksandra Olsza	3–6, 6–2, 6–2
Loss	5–8	Oct 1999	Kremlin Cup, Russia	Carpet (i)	Anke Huber	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	0–6, 1–6
Win	6–8	Jan 2000	Gold Coast Hardcourts, Australia	Hard	Anna Kournikova	Sabine Appelmans Rita Grande	6–3, 6–0
Win	7–8	Jan 2000	Sydney International, Australia	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	Martina Hingis Mary Pierce	6–0, 6–3
Win	8–8	Feb 2000	Paris Indoors, France	Carpet (i)	Sandrine Testud	Émilie Loit Åsa Carlsson	3–6, 6–3, 6–4
Win	9–8	Mar 2000	Miami Masters, US	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	Nicole Arendt Manon Bollegraf	4–6, 7–5, 6–4
Win	10–8	May 2000	Bol Ladies Open, Croatia	Clay	Corina Morariu	Tina Križan Katarina Srebotnik	6–2, 6–2
Loss	10–9	Jun 2000	Wimbledon, UK	Grass	Ai Sugiyama	Serena Williams Venus Williams	3–6, 2–6
Loss	10–10	Aug 2000	Rogers Cup Montreal, Canada	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	Martina Hingis Nathalie Tauziat	3–6, 6–3, 4–6
Win	11–10	Aug 2000	Connecticut Open, US	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez	6–4, 5–7, 6–2
Win	12–10	Aug 2000	US Open	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	Cara Black Elena Likhovtseva	6–0, 1–6, 6–1
Win	13–10	Oct 2000	Tokyo Cup, Japan	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	Nana Miyagi Paola Suárez	6–0, 6–2
Win	14–10	Oct 2000	Tokyo Championships, Japan	Hard	Corina Morariu	Tina Križan Katarina Srebotnik	6–1, 6–2
Win	15–10	Oct 2000	Kremlin Cup, Russia	Carpet (i)	Ai Sugiyama	Martina Hingis Anna Kournikova	4–6, 6–4, 7–65

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 2 (2–0)

Legend
$50,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	13 July 1987	ITF Erlangen, West Germany	Clay	Wiltrud Probst	4–6, 6–4, 6–2
Winner	2.	27 July 1987	ITF Neumünster, West Germany	Clay	Brenda Schultz-McCarthy	6–2, 6–4

Doubles: 4 (2–2)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	20 July 1987	ITF Vaihingen, West Germany	Clay	Virginie Paquet	Hana Fukárková Denisa Krajčovičová	6–4, 6–3
Winner	2.	3 December 1990	ITF Le Havre, France	Clay	Agnès Zugasti	Gaby Coorengel Amy van Buuren	6–3, 6–0
Runner-up	1.	7 December 1992	ITF Val-d'Oise, France	Hard (i)	Sabine Appelmans	Isabelle Demongeot Catherine Suire	5–7, 4–6
Runner-up	2.	7 December 1997	ITF Cergy-Pontoise, France	Hard (i)	Anne-Gaëlle Sidot	Kristie Boogert Miriam Oremans	5–7, 4–6

Grand Slam performance timelines

Key

W

F

SF

QF

#R

RR

Q#

DNQ

A

NH

(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

Tournament	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	SR	W–L
Australian Open	A	2R	1R	3R	2R	1R	QF	2R	1R	3R	A	A	2R	QF	0 / 11	16–11
French Open	2R	2R	1R	3R	2R	3R	3R	QF	3R	2R	A	2R	4R	1R	0 / 13	20–13
Wimbledon	A	1R	2R	2R	2R	4R	1R	1R	1R	A	A	3R	3R	1R	0 / 11	10–11
US Open	3R	1R	2R	2R	2R	2R	2R	2R	2R	A	A	1R	4R	1R	0 / 12	12–12
Overall win–loss	3–2	2–4	2–4	6–4	4–4	6–4	7–4	6–4	3–4	3–2	0–0	3–3	9–4	4–4	0 / 47	58–47
Career statistics
Titles	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	1	3	0	1	2	2	12
Finals	1	0	0	0	2	1	0	2	1	4	0	2	5	3	21
Year-end ranking	62	75	118	41	20	27	29	21	51	20	–	22	9	15

Doubles

Tournament	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	SR	W–L
Australian Open	A	1R	2R	2R	A	1R	1R	1R	2R	3R	A	A	3R	QF	0 / 10	10–10
French Open	A	1R	2R	1R	3R	2R	1R	SF	QF	3R	A	2R	1R	SF	0 / 12	18–12
Wimbledon	A	A	A	A	1R	1R	2R	3R	3R	A	A	QF	2R	F	0 / 8	14–8
US Open	A	A	A	A	1R	1R	1R	1R	QF	A	A	3R	3R	W	1 / 8	13–7
Overall win–loss	0–0	0–2	2–2	1–2	2–3	1–4	1–4	6–4	9–4	4–2	0–0	6–3	5–4	18–3	1 / 38	55–37

Head-to-head records

• Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 4—8
• Dominique Monami 2—2
• Serena Williams 0—4
• Martina Hingis 0—5
• Venus Williams 1—1
• Anna Kournikova 1—1
• Elena Dementieva 1—0
• Jelena Dokic 1—0
• Steffi Graf 1—9
• Lindsay Davenport 2—9
• Mary Pierce 3-0

References

1. Berkrot, Bill (16 November 2000). "Halard-Decugis decides to retire". The Independent . New York City . Retrieved 6 October 2019.
2. "Tennis — DFS Classic; Halard-Decugis beats Tauziat". The New York Times . 14 June 1999.
3. Gene Frenette (16 April 2000). "When Love is a good game". jacksonville.com.
4. Iain Carter (June 2000). "Julie Halard-Decugis". BBC Sport.

External links

• Julie Halard-Decugis at the Women's Tennis Association
• Julie Halard-Decugis at the International Tennis Federation
• Julie Halard-Decugis at the Billie Jean King Cup (archived)