Pam Shriver

Infobox Tennis player
playername = Pam Shriver
nickname =


country = USA
residence = Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
datebirth = birth date and age|1962|7|4
placebirth = Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
height = height|m=1.83
weight = convert|72.5|kg|lb st|abbr=on|lk=on
turnedpro = 1979
retired = 1997
plays = Right-handed
careerprizemoney = US$5,460,566
singlesrecord = 625–270
singlestitles = 21
highestsinglesranking = 3 (February 20, 1984)
AustralianOpenresult = SF (1981, 1982, 1983)
FrenchOpenresult = 3r (1983)
Wimbledonresult = SF (1981, 1987, 1988)
USOpenresult = F (1978)
doublesrecord = 622–122
doublestitles = 112
highestdoublesranking = 1 (October 21, 1985)
updated = May 27, 2008

Pamela Howard Shriver Lazenby (born July 4 1962, in Baltimore, Maryland), is a former professional tennis player and current sports broadcaster from the United States. During the 1980s and 1990s, she won 133 top-level titles, including 21 women's doubles titles and 1 mixed doubles title at Grand Slam tournaments. She also won a women's doubles gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, partnering with Zina Garrison.

Career

Shriver first came to prominence at the 1978 US Open where, as an unseeded 16-year-old amateur, she reached the women's singles final. She defeated the reigning Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova in a semifinal 7–6, 7–6. Shriver then lost to Chris Evert in the final 7–5, 6–4. Shriver also won the first of her 21 career singles titles in 1978 at Columbus, Ohio.

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 to Steffi Graf, and one each to Evert and Hana Mandlikova.

Doubles

Shriver's most notable successes after 1978 came in doubles with Martina Navratilova. They subsequently won 79 women's doubles titles. [http://www.tennisfame.com/famer.aspx?pgID=867&hof_id=155 International Tennis Hall of Fame profile of Pam Shriver] ] Shriver won 112 career doubles titles overall [http://www.tennisfame.com/famer.aspx?pgID=867&hof_id=155 International Tennis Hall of Fame profile of Pam Shriver] ] and is one of only six female players in the open era to have won more than 100 career titles. [http://www.nationwidespeakers.com/speaker/637/pam-shriver/tennis-hall-of-famer National Speakers Bureau biography] ]

Navratilova and Shriver formed one of the all-time great women's doubles teams, capturing seven Australian Open, five Wimbledon, five US Open and four French Open titles. In 1984, the pair captured all four Grand Slam women's doubles titles. This was part of a record 109-match winning streak between 1983 and 1985. The pair were named the WTA Tour's "Doubles Team of the Year" eight consecutive times from 1981 through 1988 and won the WTA 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 with Natasha Zvereva. She was also the 1987 French Open mixed doubles title with Emilio Sanchez. She swept all three gold medals (singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles) at the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana, Cuba.

Shriver reached the World No. 1 doubles ranking in 1985 and held it briefly before relinquishing it again to her partner, Navratilova.

Retirement

Shriver retired from competitive play in 1996 but has since maintained a presence on the professional tour, mentoring Venus Williams for a while and providing television commentary for ABC, CBS, and ESPN in the United States, the BBC in the United Kingdom, and Seven Network Sport in Australia.

Distinctions and honors

*Throughout the 1980s, she was ranked among the World's Top 10 in women's singles, peaking at World No. 3.
*Shriver was elected to serve as president of the WTA Tour Players Association from 1991–94.
*Shriver has served as president of the USA Tennis Foundation and on the board of directors of the United States Tennis Association.
*Shriver was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2002.

Personal life

Shriver's first husband, Joe Shapiro, a former Walt Disney company lawyer, died of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1999.

In 2002, Shriver married the former James Bond actor George Lazenby. She gave birth to their first child, George, Jr., on July 12, 2004. On October 1, 2005, Shriver gave birth to twins, Kate and Sam. She is also a stepmother to George's daughter, Melanie Lazenby, from his previous marriage. The family lives in Brentwood, California. In August 2008, Shriver filed for divorce from Lazenby, citing "irreconcilable differences" for the end of the couple's six-year marriage. [ [http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/08/08/ap5303719.html Pam Shriver files for divorce from George Lazenby] ]

Shriver is a graduate of McDonogh School in Owings Mills, Maryland. She is a minority owner of the Baltimore Orioles and is active in various charitable organizations.

Shriver is the fourth cousin of Maria Shriver, [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005425/bio Biography of Maria Shriver] ] the First Lady of California.

Grand Slam singles final (1)

Runner-up (1)

Grand Slam mixed doubles final (1)

Win (1)

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

NH = tournament not held.

A = did not participate in the tournament.

SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

References

External links

*wta|id=190061|name=Pam Shriver
* [http://www.tennisfame.com/famer.aspx?pgID=867&hof_id=155 International Tennis Hall of Fame profile]
*ITF female profile|number=20001608
*FedCupplayerlink|id=20001608
* [http://www.allamericanspeakers.com/speakerbio/Pam_Shriver.php Shriver bio at AllAmericanSpeakers.com]