‘Had an Inappropriate and Damaging Relationship With My Much Older Coach’ – Former American Tennis Star Opens Up About Her Past

Former American tennis player Pam Shriver has been a recent topic of conversation. Recently, the 59-year-old former tennis player opened up about her inappropriate relationship when she was just starting her professional career as a tennis player. According to her, she had a relationship with Australian Coach Don Candy at the age of only 17. 

LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 01: Former professional tennis player Pam Shriver attends ‘Creating Change Through Sports’ hosted by Up2Us on October 1, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. ‘Creating Change Through Sports’ sends 150 coaches to mentor 15,000 youth in underserved communities. (Photo by Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images for Up2Us)

Pam Shriver opened up about her relationship with her coach Don Candy

On Twitter, the former American tennis player recently shared a post about her relationship with her coach, Don Candy, who was 33 years older than her. After 40 years of silence, she finally opened up. 

“I had an inappropriate and damaging relationship with my much older coach, which began when I was 17 and lasted a little over five years… It hasn’t been easy to rake over what happened, but I believe this is an important issue, and one that needs to be brought out into the open,” Shriver said. 

This is not an easy story for me to tell, but it is time.

You can listen to my story on the @TennisPodcast – https://t.co/81m3Ryfwr4

You can read my story @TelegraphSport – https://t.co/ckvTF4SSQQ pic.twitter.com/ZRHJMxPTjg

— Pam Shriver (@PHShriver) April 20, 2022

“I believe abusive coaching relationships are alarmingly common in sport as a whole. My particular expertise, though, is in tennis, where I have witnessed dozens of instances in my four-and-a-bit decades as a player and commentator. Every time I hear about a player who is dating their coach, or I see a male physio working on a female body in the gym, it sets my alarm bells ringing,” she added. 

“Sometimes it’s young girls and much older men. Sometimes the ages are similar, and you could argue that two consenting adults are entitled to do what they want. But mixing your personal and professional lives creates all sorts of extra tensions, especially in the pressurised world of sport,” she further said. 

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According to the tennis player, she expressed her feelings to Candy after going winless for a few months during the 1979 season. After breaking up with Don, she became a completely different player. In the next few seasons, she won 15 singles titles and won 80 percent of her matches. Also, she wants ITF, WTA, ATP, and the other four Grand Slams to take responsibility and improve tennis’ safeguarding practices.

Shriver had a terrific tennis career

Although the American tennis player never won a Grand Slam singles title, she still had a pretty great career. She won 20 Grand Slam doubles titles, partnering with Martina Navratilova. Together, they won 74 career doubles titles, and many considered them one of the best doubles teams of all time. 

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Apart from winning Grand Slam tournaments, she also Olympic gold medal in 1988 partnering with Zina Garrison. In terms of titles, she won 132 career titles in her entire career. Also, that makes her only the sixth woman player to win 100-plus career titles. 

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