Biography of Pam Shriver

Pam Shriver (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 a total of 22 Grand Slam doubles titles and captured a women's doubles Gold Medal at the 1988 Olympic Games.

Shriver first came to prominence as a 16 year-old amateur player in 1978, when she shocked the tennis world by reaching the women's singles final at the US Open. She stunned the then reigning Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova in the semi-finals, beating her in straight sets 7-6, 7-6. She then lost to Chris Evert in the final 7-5, 6-4. Shriver also won the first of 21 career singles titles in 1978 at Columbus, Ohio.

The 1978 US Open final was to be the only Grand Slam singles final of Shriver's career. Her most notable successes in future years came in doubles play. She won a total 112 career doubles titles – with 22 of them coming at Grand Slam events.

Shriver and Navratilova formed one of the all time great women's doubles teams, capturing 7 Australian Open, 5 French Open, 5 Wimbledon and 4 US Open titles. In 1984, the pair captured all four of the Grand Slam women's doubles titles. This was part of a record 109-match winning streak they achieved between 1983 and 1985. The pair were named the WTA Tour's 'Doubles Team of the Year' 9 consecutive times from 1981-1989, and won the WTA Tour Championships title 10 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 champion with Emilio Sanchez. In 1988, Shriver won a women's doubles Gold Medal at the Olympic Games in Seoul, partnering with Zina Garrison. She swept all three Gold Medals (women's singles, women's doubles and mixed doubles) at the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana.

Shriver reached the World No. 1 doubles ranking in 1985. Throughout the 1980s, she was ranked among the World's Top 10 in women's singles, peaking at World No. 3.

In total, Shriver won 133 top-level titles – 21 in singles and 112 in doubles. She is one of only 5 woman players in the Open Era to win more than 100 career titles.

Shriver retired from competitive play in 1994 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 7 Sport in Australia.

Shriver was elected to serve as President of WTA Tour Players Association from 1991-94. She has also 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.

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., in July 2004. On October 1, 2005, Shriver gave birth to twins, Kate and Sam. She is also a step-mother to George's daughter, Melanie Lazenby, from his previous marriage. The family lives in Brentwood, California.

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