Pam Shriver

Career

Shriver first came to prominence at the 1978 US Open where, as a 16-year-old amateur, she reached the women's singles final. She defeated the reigning Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova in a semifinal. 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.

Doubles Shriver achieved numerous successes in doubles tournaments with Navratilova, winning 79 women's doubles titles. Shriver won 112 career doubles titles overall and is one of six female players in the Open era to have won more than 100 career titles.

Navratilova and Shriver formed one of the most successful women's doubles teams, capturing seven Australian Open, five Wimbledon, four US 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.

Broadcaster 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.

Equipment Shriver was one of the first players to use an oversized racquet, manufactured by Prince.

Personal life Shriver was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Sam and Margot Shriver. She first started playing tennis at the age of three. She graduated from McDonogh School in Owings Mills, Maryland. She is a minority owner of the Baltimore Orioles and is active in various charitable organizations. Her first husband, Joe Shapiro, a former Disney lawyer, died of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1999.

In 2002, Shriver married actor George Lazenby, a retired actor known for his role as James Bond in the film On Her Majesty's Secret Service. 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. Their divorce was finalized in May 2011.

Shriver has since reconciled with Lazenby. In 2025, she revealed that he has dementia and she was caring for him in San Diego, California.

Shriver has two sisters—Marion, who died from cancer in 1997, and Eleanor who lives in Maryland. She is a fourth cousin of Maria Shriver, the former First Lady of California, niece of President John F. Kennedy and ex-wife of Arnold 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.

In 2021, Shriver became a supporter of the new Women's Sports Policy Working Group formed in response to President Joe Biden's executive order that mandates blanket inclusion for all transgender female athletes.

Grand Slam performance timelines

Singles

Doubles