Passing Shots Pam Shriver on Tour

The top-ranked pro details the disasters and triumphs of the women's tennis circuit from Melbourne to Wimbledon and offers personal observations on leading players and on the current state of the sport

Shriver is one of the top 10 women's tennis players, probably best known as Navratilova's doubles partner, and a sometime contributor to Sports Illustrated. In this light, readable book, aided by SI's tennis editor Deford and freelancer Adams, she presents a diary of the year 1985 filled with candid comments about the game, her fellow players and her own career. She details the crisis she went through with her longtime coach, Aussie Don Candy, the breakup of a romance caused by the exigencies of her schedule and her frustration at not winning a Grand Slam singles title. She sees Navratilova and Evert Lloyd as dominating women's tennis, states that lesbianism in the sport is not the problem media sensationalism has made it out to be and sees no drug threat on the tour. Photos not seen by PW. 25,000 first printing; $25,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Shriver, a consistent big-money winner on the women's professional tennis circuit for eight years, has written this autobiography in diary form. She comes across as a nice all-American type, refreshingly unsophisticated. But, unfortunately, niceness is insufficient to make a good book, and this one suffers from a lack of depth. We've heard it all before: the cattiness among the players, the constant travel, the sore limbs, the rained-out matches, the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat. One is left with the perception that professional tennis is an awful life but that the lure of the money practically makes it obligatory, at least if one is as good at it as Shriver. For large sports collections only. Anne Twitchell, Univ. of Maryland Lib., College Park
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.