Halard-Decugis lived in La Baule, France, during the initial stages of her career and later moved to Pully, Switzerland.

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.

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.

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.