Here’s a Tennis Star Who’s Hard to Fault

Calling No. 1 singles player Julie Willett of Woodbridge High School perfect may go beyond the standard compliment, but Willett’s teammates don’t seem to think so.

“The girls are always asking, ‘What’s wrong with Julie Willett?’ ” said Greg Tarr, Warrior coach. ‘They can’t find anything wrong with how she looks or what she says or how she does in school, so they kid her that she gives them nothing to complain about.”

That goes double for her singles performance. Willett, a senior, is 54-0 this season.

Last season, Willett was 56-2, losing only to Miraleste’s Krista Amend and Kim Po.

Today, Willett will meet Laura Kimel of Dos Pueblos in the Southern Section individual championships’ round of 16 at 11 a.m. at the Racquet Club of Irvine. Amend and Po are the tournament’s first- and second-seeded players.

Willett shies from questions regarding the Southern Section tournament. She’d rather discuss matches of years ago.

“I was really mentally tough at 12,” said Willett, 17. “I always played all out.”

This may surprise many of her opponents, who find the present Willett as tough as they come.

“She’s always been very competitive,” said Edison’s Debbie Goldberger, a top junior player. “Everyone always knew that Julie never gave up, especially if she got behind. She’s still that way.”

Willett recalls a match of five years ago, when she and San Clemente’s Noel Porter spent 4 1/2 hours battling 98-degree heat, a first-stage smog alert and each other in the final of a 12-and-under summer tournament at Griffith Park.

Though Willett remembers the chair umpire falling asleep midway through the match, she cannot recall the final score or even the winner.

It is for this reason that many players find Willett so amiable, both on and off the court. They say Willett plays to win, but doesn’t measure her or other players’ worth simply by wins and losses.

The United States Tennis Assn. recognized this, awarding Willett the National Sportsmanship Award in 1982 for 12-and-unders.

Debbie Graham, a finalist in last year’s individual championship for La Quinta High, has practiced with Willett since Graham was beginning at 13.

“I was really surprised that she even gave me the time of day at first,” said Graham, now a senior at Los Amigos. “Most of the better players only want to play with the higher-ranked ones. But she practiced with me a lot, and then we became doubles partners.”

A year later, Willett and Graham won the United States Tennis Assn. 14-and-under nationals.

Though Willett has been ranked in the top 10 in her Southern California age division since she started tournament play at 8, success, it seems, has not affected her.

“I have never even seen Julie stomp or frown at a bad call,” Tarr said. “She is one of those rare players who have such a positive attitude, she makes people feel good even when she beats them in straight sets.”

If tennis is her best sport, school is Willett’s favorite subject. She has a 4.06 grade-point-average (on a 4.0 scale), carrying three college-level courses as well as advanced Spanish and political science.

She’s a four-year member of both the Academic Decathlon and Science Olympic teams at Woodbridge, and two years ago won the gold medal at the California High School Science Fair.

But still, she disputes any suggestion that her academic and athletic talents deem mention.

So what does Willett say to those who call her perfect?

“I say they don’t see my room,” she said. “I’m kind of a slob, but it’s tough to keep things in order when you’re always going somewhere.”