In 2022 tennis great Pam Shriver revealed she had a relationship with her much older coach Don Candy, which supposedly began after she told him inside a rental car that she loved him – when she was seventeen and he was fifty.
“I still have conflicted feelings about Don. 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,” she said. “Even so, he was the grown-up here. He should have been the trustworthy adult…My relationship with Don was a traumatic experience for me. The after-effects lasted well beyond the time we have spent together. Our relationship shaped my entire subsequent romantic life. I had great difficulty forming normal relationships, my continued attraction to older men prevented me from maintaining healthy boundaries in my relationships…The next four seasons, after breaking up with Don, were the best of my career. I have collected 15 titles in singles and have won over 80% of my games. In the meantime, back at home in Baltimore, I started dating some guys. It was interesting to see what happens when you end a relationship that is causing you so much stress. Eventually, I was starting to experience some normalcy in my personal life. Many years later, I told my father about my relationship with Don. I never told my mother. But now I’m making this story public because I hope it makes a difference.”
But in Michael Mewshaw’s 1993 book “Ladies Of The Court: Grace And Disgrace On The Women’s Tennis Tour”, Shriver seemed to contradict her three decades later claims. “I don’t know of a single situation where a girl got involved with a coach and that’s what caused her to drop off the Tour or burn out or have psychological problems. I think the presence of men coaches provides a balance on the Tour. In the years I’ve been on the Tour, eating disorders have been a bigger problem, although I think on the average college campus it would be the same.”
Was it just a publicity stunt to get media attention for a popular tennis TV analyst at the expense of a man who is no longer alive to defend himself?
Yes there have been and are more than a few of female player and coach romantic relationships and some even blossom into marriages (Kvitova, Kudermetova, etc). But those are nobody’s business but the participants regardless of age gaps or ethnic differences.
ESPN tennis analyst Pam Shriver won 22 Grand Slam titles, 21 in doubles and one in mixed, and 133 overall WTA Tour level titles. She also won the 1988 Olympic gold medal in doubles with Zina Garrison. Shriver and Navratilova are the only tandem to complete the Grand Slam in a calendar year (1984).
Don Candy won the French Open doubles title in 1956 with American Bob Perry and made the QF at Australian Open in singles in 1952 and 1959. Candy passed away at age 91 in 2020.
Don Candy · Martina Navratilova · Olympic Games · Pam Shriver
4 comments
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catherine · August 2, 2025 at 2:50 pm
Pam was telling the truth. But her willingness to talk about it depended, probably, on the changing circumstances of her life. In this case I suspect Pam had good reasons for not being open with Mewshaw.
Probably Shriver felt a good deal of guilt and had many conflicted feelings. But what overall motivation was in going public isn’t entirely clear.
Scoop Malinowski · August 2, 2025 at 6:34 pm
Catherine you may be right and it really happened but it’s also possible nothing happened and she saw it as an opportunity to get positive attention to perhaps help get a new TV contract to announce matches. Her strong comments to Mewshaw seemed convincing and sincere. But even if they did have a relation, she admits she started it by telling him she loved him in the rental car. If he never acted on that invitation, then he’s a very honorable man and great husband to his wife.
Sam · August 6, 2025 at 1:49 am
I agree with Catherine that Pam is probably telling the truth now about her inappropriate relationship with Candy. Just curious—is his wife still alive?
Scoop Malinowski · August 6, 2025 at 9:07 am
No idea about Mrs Candy.