Julie Pullin


Julie Pullin, now Julie Hobbs, is a retired British tennis player who turned professional in 1993. She won eight singles titles and 25 doubles titles on the ITF circuit, many with compatriot Lorna Woodroffe. She is most well known for receiving nine wild cards over her career for the ladies' singles at Wimbledon, but failing to win a match.
She reached her career-high WTA singles ranking of 125 in April 2000, after she achieved her best performance in a Grand Slam championship, qualifying and reaching the second round of the Australian Open for the first time. Pullin had defeated Slovak 15th seed Martina Suchá in the first round of qualifying 6–4, 7–5, Gloria Pizzichini 6–4, 6–0 in the second and American Samantha Reeves in the final round 6–2, 7–6. She defeated another American, Jane Chi, 6–1, 6–3 in the first round proper, before narrowly losing to Chinese wild card Yi Jing-Qian, 3–6, 6–2, 7–9. It was the only tournament where Pullin won a main-draw Grand Slam match in singles.
She reached the second round of the Wimbledon ladies' doubles tournament once in 2000, with Woodroffe, beating Dawn Buth and Julie Scott 6–4, 6–1, before losing to the 14th seeded Anke Huber and Barbara Schett in the second round.
Julie Pullin announced her retirement in 2003, after playing her last professional singles match in the first round at Wimbledon, losing 1–6, 3–6 to Lina Krasnoroutskaya.

Personal life

Pullin was born in Cuckfield in Sussex to her father Alan and her tennis coach mother Andrea. She has two brothers, Roger and Keith, and a sister, Vicki. She was coached during her career by Leighton Alfred.
Her married name is now Hobbs, and under that name she is now the head coach at the Pavilion and Avenue Tennis Club in Brighton.

WTA career finals

Doubles: 1 (0–1)

ResultW-LDateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Loss0–1May 1997Cardiff, Great BritainClay Lorna Woodroffe Kerry-Anne Guse
Debbie Graham
3–6, 4–6

ITF finals

Singles: 18 (8–10)

OutcomeNo.DateLocationSurfaceOpponentScore
Winner1.23 March 1992Harare, ZimbabweHard Julia Muir6–1, 6–1
Winner2.6 April 1992Gaborone, BotswanaHard Estelle Gevers6–2, 2–6, 6–4
Runner-up3.5 7 1993Frinton, Great BritainGrass Lucie Ahl1–6, 6–3, 1–6
Winner4.9 August 1993College Park, United StatesHard Vickie Paynter6–4, 3–6, 6–2
Runner-up5.27 September 1993Bracknell, Great BritainHard Svetlana Parkhomenko5–7, 2–6
Runner-up6.4 March 1996Haifa, IsraelHard Hila Rosen4–6, 3–6
Runner-up7.4 May 1996Hatfield, Great BritainmClay Jessica Steck6–7, 6–7
Runner-up8.8 July 1996Easton, United StatesHard Stephanie Mabry3–6, 3–6
Runner-up9.29 9 1996Telford, Great BritainHard Lucie Ahl3–6, 7–6, 3–6
Winner10.27 April 1997Bournemouth, Great BritainClay Joanne Ward6–0, 6–3
Winner11.14 February 1998Birmingham, Great BritainHard Joanne Ward6–1, 1–6, 6–3
Winner12.9 August 1998Lexington, United StatesHard Abigail Tordoff6–4, 6–4
Runner-up13.7 November 1999Hull, Great BritainHard Yvonne Doyle4–6, 5–7
Runner-up14.20 February 2000Redbridge, Great BritainHard Elena Bovina6–2, 0–6, 1–6
Runner-up15.30 October 2000Hull, Great BritainHard Louise Latimer2–4, 2–4, 1–4
Runner-up16.19 February 2001Algarve, PortugalHard Ekaterina Kozhokina4–6, 6–4, 3–6
Winner17.9 October 2001Cardiff, Great BritainCarpet Eva Dyrberg6–1, 6–7, 6–2
Winner18.5 May 2002Gifu, JapanHard Shinobu Asagoe4–6, 6–4, 6–3

Doubles: 45 (25–20)

Unplayed final