_06_(cropped).jpg) Shriver at the2023 US Open | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Pamela Howard Shriver | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country (sports) |  United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Residence | Los Angeles, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1962-07-04)July 4, 1962 (age 63) Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turned pro | 1979 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 1997 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Plays | Right-handed (one-handed backhand) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coach | Don Candy[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prize money | $5,460,566 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Int. Tennis HoF | 2002(member page) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Singles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career record | 625–270 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career titles | 21 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest ranking | No. 3 (February 20, 1984) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Grand Slam singles results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Australian Open | SF (1981,1982,1983) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| French Open | 3R (1983) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wimbledon | SF (1981,1987,1988) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| US Open | F (1978) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Doubles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career record | 622–122 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career titles | 112 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest ranking | No.1 (March 18, 1985) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Grand Slam doubles results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Australian Open | W (1982,1983,1984,1985,1987,1988,1989) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| French Open | W (1984,1985,1987,1988) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wimbledon | W (1981,1982,1983,1984,1986) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| US Open | W (1983,1984,1986,1987,1991) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other doubles tournaments | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tour Finals | W (1981,1982,1983,1984,1985,1986Nov,1987,1988,1989,1991) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Olympic Games |  Gold Medal (1988) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Grand Slam mixed doubles results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| French Open | W (1987) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team competitions | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fed Cup | W (1986,1989) Record: 19–1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Pamela Howard Shriver (born July 4, 1962) is an American former professionaltennis player and current tennis broadcaster, pundit, and coach. She was ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by theWomen's Tennis Association (WTA), andworld No. 1 in doubles. During the 1980s and 1990s, Shriver won 133WTA Tour-level titles: 21 in singles and 112 in doubles. This includes 22major titles, 21 in women's doubles and one in mixed doubles, as well as an Olympic gold medal in women's doubles at the1988 Seoul Olympics, partneringZina Garrison. Shriver and regular doubles partnerMartina Navratilova are the only women's pair to complete theGrand Slam in a calendar year, winning all four majors in1984.
Shriver was well known for her variety, including sharp volleys and all-round solid technique at the net. She also possessed a strong slice forehand and underspin approach,[1] which set her apart from the rest of the women's field, but she had a comparatively weak chip backhand. She was known for being aserve-and-volleyer.[1]
Shriver first came to prominence at the 1978US Open where, as a 16-year-old amateur, she reached the women's singles final. She defeated the reigningWimbledon championMartina Navratilova in a semifinal.[1] Shriver then lost toChris Evert in the final. This early singles achievement proved to be the pinnacle of her singles success. Shriver also won her first career singles title in 1978 in Columbus, Ohio and won a total of 21 singles titles between 1978 and 1997.
The 1978 US Open final was the only Grand Slam singles final of Shriver's career. She lost the next eight Grand Slam singles semifinals she played, four of them to Navratilova, two toSteffi Graf, and one each to Evert andHana Mandlíková.
In 2022, Shriver disclosed that she had been in a multi-year inappropriate relationship with her coach, 50-year old AustralianDon Candy, that started when she was a 17-year old girl.[2][3] She chose to reveal the story in part because of her concern that there are ongoing issues with young tennis players being placed in vulnerable situations.
Shriver achieved numerous successes in doubles tournaments with Navratilova, winning 79 women's doubles titles.[4] Shriver won 112 career doubles titles overall and is one of six female players in theOpen era to have won more than 100 career titles.[4][5]
Navratilova and Shriver formed one of the most successful women's doubles teams, capturing seven Australian Open, fiveWimbledon, fourUS Open and four French Open titles. In 1984, the pair captured all four major women's doubles titles, i.e. the "Calendar Grand Slam." This was part of a record 109-match winning streak between 1983 and 1985.[1] The pair were named theWTA Tour's "Doubles Team of the Year" eight consecutive times from 1981 through 1988 and won theWTA Tour Championships title ten times between 1981 and 1992.
Shriver won another women's doubles Grand Slam title at the US Open in 1991, partnering withNatasha Zvereva. She was also the 1987 French Open mixed doubles winner withEmilio Sánchez. She won all three gold medals (singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles) at the 1991Pan American Games in Havana, Cuba. Shriver also teamed with Zina Garrison to win the gold medal at the 1988 Olympics.
Shriver reached the world No. 1 doubles ranking in 1985 and held it briefly before relinquishing it again to Navratilova, her playing partner.
In the Federation Cup representing the United States, Shriver won five out of five singles matches and 14 of 15 doubles matches. From 1986 to 1992, she played in 17 Federation Cup ties. She reached three finals with her compatriots, winning twice; in 1986 the U.S. defeated Czechoslovakia (3–0); in 1987 the U.S. lost to Germany (1–2); and in 1989 the U.S. defeated Spain (3–0).[6]
Shriver has provided television commentary for ABC, CBS, ESPN, and The Tennis Channel in the United States, the BBC in the United Kingdom, and the Seven Network in Australia. She has been providing coverage of various events since her 1996 retirement.
During Wimbledon 2010,James Blake admonished Shriver for criticizing him while his match was still in progress, as Shriver was in an outside commentary box and he could hear her. Shriver said she regretted responding to Blake while still on air.[7]
Shriver was one of the first players to use an oversized racquet, manufactured byPrince.[1]
Shriver was born inBaltimore, Maryland, to Sam and Margot Shriver. She first started playing tennis at the age of three. She graduated fromMcDonogh School in Owings Mills, Maryland. She is a minority owner of theBaltimore Orioles and is active in various charitable organizations. Her first husband, Joe Shapiro, a formerDisney lawyer, died ofnon-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1999.
In 2002, Shriver married actorGeorge Lazenby. She gave birth to their first child, George Samuel Lazenby, on July 12, 2004, and to twins Kaitlin Elizabeth "Kate" Lazenby and Samuel Robert "Sam" Lazenby on October 1, 2005. The family lived in Brentwood, California. In August 2008, Shriver filed for divorce from Lazenby after six years of marriage.[9][10] Their divorce was finalized in May 2011.[11]
Shriver has since reconciled with her former husband,George Lazenby, who has dementia and is in assisted living in San Diego.[12]
Shriver has two sisters—Marion, who died from cancer in 1997, and Eleanor who lives in Maryland. She is a fourth cousin ofMaria Shriver,[13] the former First Lady of California, niece of PresidentJohn F. Kennedy and ex-wife ofArnold Schwarzenegger.
Shriver is an ambassador for Up2Us Sports, a national non-profit organization dedicated to supporting underserved youth by providing them with coaches trained in positive youth development.[14]
In 2021, Shriver became a supporter of the new Women's Sports Policy Working Group[15] formed in response to PresidentJoe Biden's executive order that mandates blanket inclusion for all transgender female athletes.[16]
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
| Tournament | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | Career SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | A | A | QF | SF | SF | SF | QF | 3R | NH | QF | 4R | 3R | 3R | 3R | 3R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | A | 0 / 16 |
| French Open | A | A | A | A | A | 3R | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | A | A | A | 0 / 2 |
| Wimbledon | 3R | 2R | 4R | SF | 4R | 2R | QF | QF | 1R | SF | SF | 3R | A | 3R | 2R | A | 3R | 1R | 2R | A | 0 / 17 |
| US Open | F | 1R | QF | 4R | SF | SF | QF | QF | QF | QF | 2R | 1R | A | 3R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 1R | A | 0 / 18 |
| SR | 0 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 53 | |
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Year-end ranking | 13 | 33 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 17 | 66 | 37 | 31 | 38 | 63 | 110 | 189 | ||
| Tournament | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | Career SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | A | A | QF | F | W | W | W | W | NH | W | W | W | 1R | 2R | SF | F | SF | 2R | 1R | 2R | 7 / 17 |
| French Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | W | W | A | W | W | A | A | A | A | 2R | 2R | A | A | A | 4 / 6 |
| Wimbledon | 1R | A | QF | W | W | W | W | F | W | QF | 3R | SF | A | SF | SF | SF | QF | QF | 3R | 1R | 5 / 18 |
| US Open | SF | 3R | F | SF | SF | W | W | F | W | W | SF | F | A | W | SF | 3R | 3R | QF | 1R | A | 5 / 18 |
| SR | 0 / 2 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 3 | 1 / 3 | 2 / 3 | 3 / 3 | 4 / 4 | 2 / 4 | 2 / 2 | 3 / 4 | 2 / 4 | 1 / 3 | 0 / 1 | 1 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 2 | 21 / 53 |
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Year-end ranking | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 92 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 12 | 18 | 91 | 249 | |||||||
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | WTA Newcomer of the Year 1978 | Succeeded by |
Articles and topics related to Pam Shriver | |
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| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
