american tennis player Pamela “Pam” Howard Shriverwinner of 133 titles during her career between 1980 and 1990, including 22 Grand Slams (21 in doubles and 1 in mixed doubles) revealed that when she was 17 years old had an “inappropriate” relationship with his trainer Don Candy.
She was in “an inappropriate and damaging relationship with my much older coach,” which began when she was still a teenager, according to an interview with ESPN’s Outside the Lines.
Shriver, now 59, started professional tennis when he was 15 and at that age reached the final of the US Open as an amateur, although he lost the game. Since then, he began to work with Candy, who served as his trainer.
They started a relationship when she was 17 and he was 50which became sexual when she was 20 years old.
“It was really difficult for me to have my first relationshipShriver told ESPN.Should never have been with my coach … I just realized that it is time to talk about my story and I hope that make it easier for other people who have also had similar stories.
Candy, 33 years older than Shriver, died in 2020 at age 91.
The tennis player indicated that was never sexually abused by his coach, but he did suffer.”emotional abuse“.
It was an “open secret” and he couldn’t tell his parents because he felt a lot of “shame and guilt”.
“I felt a lot anger and jealousy when his wife came to tournaments. So basically, a lot of times I was really miserable,” she added.
His feelings towards his coach are mixed today. “We got involved in a long and inappropriate affair. Yes, he was cheating on his wife. But there was so much about him that was honest and true. and i loved him”.
However, he acknowledges that his coach was the adult and he had to be responsible and reliable, he had to keep everything professional. It was only “after therapy that I began to feel a little less responsible. Now, finally, I have realized that what happened is your fault“.
The decision to speak now came after know many similar cases that were presented during her entire career or what she can observe even now as a specialist and commentator for ESPN, which had her very worried. The other reason was the recent death of her mother, whom she never told about her relationship with Candy.
“Realizing that my children were the same age as me when the relationship began. I think it also took some reflection when my mother died last August. He died without knowing that this happened, he always thought I was being accompanied by a safe person, he said.
The decision to talk about the subject is part of his “healing” and tries help other young players to speak and are not manipulated by their coaches.