USTA Pro Circuit record-holder Julie Ditty Qualls has scholarship named in her memory

Over the course of a 10-year professional tennis career that began in 2002, Julie Ditty Qualls won a record 38 titles on the USTA Pro Circuit, played in all four Grand Slam tournaments, represented her country on the U.S. Fed Cup (now Billie Jean King Cup) team, and ranked inside the world’s Top 100 in both singles and doubles. After her 2012 retirement from tour life, the Ashland, Ky. native turned her experiences into impact closer to home as a coach, and introduced countless young people to her favorite sport through free clinics at the Ashland Tennis Center.

And now, after Ditty Qualls’ death at age 42 in 2021 following a six-year battle with breast cancer, those who knew her best and leaders in the USTA’s Southern section are hoping that her spirit will live on through a newly-dedicated scholarship for college-bound student-athletes that’s been named in her honor.

“This is the culmination of Julie’s lifetime journey,” her father, Dr. Jack Ditty, recently told usta.com.

It’s a journey that took Ditty Qualls—the fourth of sixth children born to Jack and his wife, Juanita Ditty—from small-town tennis in Ashland to national recognition for Vanderbilt University and further still to the sport’s biggest world stages like Wimbledon, the US Open and beyond. It’s also one that will continue on in perpetuity, as her name will now be intrinsically linked to future generations of tennis players: Once funded, the Julie Ditty Qualls Memorial Scholarship—announced in January—will be one of the more than 20 scholarships given out by the Southern Tennis Foundation, the charitable arm of the USTA’s Southern section, to deserving students who need financial assistance to pursue a post-secondary education. Students who maintain a 3.0 GPA or higher will be eligible to receive $1,000 a year for four years if selected for the scholarship. Recipients must have participated in at least two years of high-school tennis, but being a nationally-ranked junior or blue-chip collegiate recruit is not a requirement. In fact, winners will not even be expected to play college tennis at all.

That’s just the way Ditty Qualls would’ve wanted it, her father says. 

“I think the main thing that would appeal to her is the fact that this is open to anybody,” he said. “When Julie got to do anything where she helped out or made a difference, she loved it. But she was extremely humble. She was somebody who did not look for personal attention or recognition. She was embarrassed by it, but she loved being able to do things for people.

“She wanted to see people get better, and most importantly, she wanted them to see that they could get better."

Survived by her husband, Josh, and son Atreyu, Ditty Qualls’ eponymous scholarship came to be with the blessing of many in her inner circle including her parents and siblings, all of whom played tennis at some level, as well as the advocacy of former USTA Kentucky President Mike Eden. A member of the Southern Tennis Foundation board, Eden is also on the 13-person board for the Julie Ditty Qualls Foundation—which was formed two years ago and continues to host the free-to-attend youth tennis clinics that Ditty Qualls herself once piloted.

Calling it a fitting tribute to one of USTA Southern’s “most beloved” people, Eden teamed with Jaime Kaplan, the Southern Tennis Foundation’s director of development, to officially bring the scholarship to life.