21-time doubles Grand Slam champion Pam Shriver has called for the ATP and WTA Tours to implement safeguarding education to ensure players do not have inappropriate relationships with coaches.
Shriver personally experienced a toxic player-coach equation. She revealed last year she was in a five-year-long ‘inappropriate’ relationship with former coach Don Candy. She stated that it started when she was only 17 years old, while Candy was 50.
Speaking on the latest episode of The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast, the former doubles World No. 1 explained that tennis players have an atypical work atmosphere, where they might find themselves manipulated by those in charge.
“When you think about our workplace, it is a workplace that’s different from most, right? Because it’s traveling, it’s staying in hotels, it’s extremely stressful,” she stated.
“It’s a lot of times when we’re very young and they can be placed in a position where things start to get manipulated and they get groomed towards… All of a sudden they find themselves where the boundary is being crossed.
“And there’s no longer just the professional part happening of trying to get the athlete to be a better tennis player,” she added.
Shriver, the 1988 Olympic doubles gold medalist, stressed on the need for everyone to educate themselves and keep all working relationships strictly professional.
“It’s complicated but the young players need education, parents need to be educated and they certainly needs to be a lot of safeguarding education for anyone on any teams. That it is better for your player to just keep it professional and I believe that 100%.”
“There are times where it’s like, it doesn’t feel abusive to me” – Pam Shriver cites Petra Kvitova’s example as she says exceptions exist
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova recently announced her marriage to Jiri Vanek, her longtime partner and coach.
Vanek has worked as Kvitova’s coach for the last seven years and the two have been in a relationship since 2021. They got engaged last year when Vanek proposed at the Wimbledon Championships.
Kvitova took to Instagram on Sunday, July 23, to share the news of her marriage. She posted a photo of the couple hand-in-hand and captioned her post “Mr and Mrs.”
Citing Kvitova’s example, Pam Shriver clarified she is not calling for a blanket ban on all relationships between players and coaches. She said Kvitova and Vanek were adults who got into a consensual relationship.
The 61-year-old further said she only has a problem when young players are taken advantage of by those in a position of power.
“Are there times like Kvitova just got married to her long time coach Jiri Vanek, right? Okay. You know, she’s in her 30s, they’ve known each other for the longest time. There are times where it’s like, it doesn’t feel abusive to me. But when players are young and they’re developing their game, I really have a problem with it,” she expressed.