Pam Shriver needs to forestall younger tennis gamers from going via what she did.
Last yr, Shriver revealed that she had a “damaging” intimate relationship along with her former coach, Don Candy, who died in 2020.
The relationship allegedly started when she was 17 and he was 50, The New York Post reviews.
Now, Shriver — who gained eight majors in singles competitors between 1978 and 1988 — is a coach for Croatian participant Donna Vekic, and is talking out in opposition to the “acceptance” of gamers in relationships with their coaches.
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“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 informed the Sydney Morning Herald.
“There has been such an acceptance that this happens. That has to switch to ‘no, it can’t happen.’”
Shriver’s newest remarks come months after French tennis participant Fiona Ferro accused her former coach of rape sexual assault. Ferro made the accusations in opposition to Pierre Bouteyre in a social media publish in September.
There are a number of situations of present girls gamers in relationships with their coaches. In 2022, Petra Kvitova introduced her engagement to educate Jiri Vanek. He is 12 years her senior however started teaching her when she was an grownup. Veronika Kudermetova is married to educate Sergei Demekhine; he started teaching her when he was almost 30 and he or she was 15.
The WTA, which final month created the place of director of safeguarding and appointed lawyer Lindsay Brandon to the job, issued an announcement in response to Shriver’s feedback.
“The WTA is dedicated to ensuring a safe environment across the tour,” a spokeswoman stated. “Safeguarding requires vigilance, and we are continuing to invest in education, training and resources to improve our efforts.”
There has not been a sign the WTA intends to make stricter bylaws governing sexual relationships between gamers and coaches.
Shriver referred to as on the 4 majors — the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open — to take a management position.
“I would like see the four majors, which together have 12 important weeks of the calendar, to step up and be better leaders on this thing,” she stated. “I think there are some real opportunities to make inroads.”
Last yr, Shriver defined the “conflicted feelings” she had about her relationship along with her former coach.
“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 stated.
“Even so, he was the grown-up here. He should have been the trustworthy adult.”
