Pam Shriver had a traumatic relationship with her 50-year-old coach as a 17-year-old

The former tennis champion opens up about her experience to raise awareness on inappropriate relationships between coaches and young players.

Pam Shriver had a traumatic relationship with her 50-year-old coach as a 17-year-old

Pam Shriver (Credits: Twitter)

Pam Shriver, a 22-time Grand Slam doubles champion, revealed that she had an “inappropriate and damaging relationship” with her coach that began when she was a teenager. She expressed concern that similar situations are prevalent in tennis.

Last year, in an article for the Daily Telegraph in which she disclosed that she had worked with her coach, Don Candy, since the age of nine. Candy, an Australian, had coached her during her ascent to the top of the sport, and she reached the final of the US Open as a 16-year-old amateur. At 17 years old, she informed the 50-year-old Candy that she was developing romantic feelings for him, and they proceeded to have a romantic relationship.

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“I still have conflicted feelings about Don,” Shriver wrote. “Yes, he and I became involved in a long and inappropriate affair. Yes, he was cheating on his wife. But there was a lot about him that was honest and authentic. And I loved him. Even so, he was the grown-up here. He should have been the trustworthy adult. In a different world, he would have found a way to keep things professional. Only after therapy did I start to feel a little less responsible. Now, at last, I’ve come to realise that what happened is on him.”

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Shriver clarified that Don Candy, who passed away in 2020, did not sexually assault her. However, their relationship hindered her capacity to form typical relationships and set particular patterns that would repeat themselves, such as her attraction to older men and her difficulty in comprehending how to maintain healthy boundaries.

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Pam Shriver advocates for the end of ‘sexual’ relationships between tennis coaches and players

Pam Shriver
Pam Shriver (Credits: Twitter)

Pam Shriver is determined to prevent young tennis players from experiencing what she went through. Last year, she disclosed that she had a harmful romantic relationship with her former coach, Don Candy, who passed away in 2020. The relationship reportedly began when she was 17 years old and he was 50. Shriver, who won eight major singles championships between 1978 and 1988, now coaches Croatian player Donna Vekic and is speaking out against the normalization of players being in romantic relationships with their coaches.

“Having seen so many generations of women players struggle with the same thing, I really want women players to have more agency over the separation of their personal life from their professional life,” Shriver told the Sydney Morning Herald.

There are numerous cases of present women players in romantic relationships with their coaches. Petra Kvitova, for instance, announced her engagement to coach Jiri Vanek in 2022. Although he is 12 years older, he began coaching her when she was already an adult. Meanwhile, Veronika Kudermetova is married to her coach Sergei Demekhine, who started coaching her when she was only 15 years old while he was nearly 30. In response to Shriver’s statements, the WTA recently established the position of Director of Safeguarding and named lawyer Lindsay Brandon to the position, and issued a statement.

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has not signaled any plans to implement stricter rules regarding sexual relationships between coaches and players. Shriver has urged the four Grand Slam tournaments, namely the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open, to lead the way in addressing this issue.

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