The Open Era
United States · born Baltimore, 1962 · five times Wimbledon doubles champion with Martina Navratilova
All playersBack to the rankings
5
Wimbledon doubles titles with Martina Navratilova
109
Matches won in a row, 1983 to 1985
21
Major women's doubles titles
4
Birmingham singles titles, 1984 to 1987
3
Wimbledon singles semi-finals, 1981 to 1988
Born in Baltimore in 1962, Shriver reached the US Open final in 1978 as a 16-year-old amateur, beating Martina Navratilova in the semi-finals before losing to Chris Evert. It remained her only major singles final. She turned professional in 1979, rose to No. 3 in singles in 1984 and briefly held the doubles No. 1 ranking in 1985. With Navratilova she won 20 major doubles titles, including the calendar Grand Slam of 1984, and a 21st came at the 1991 US Open with Natasha Zvereva. She won Olympic doubles gold with Zina Garrison at Seoul in 1988, had a 19-1 record in the Fed Cup and was president of the WTA Players Association from 1991 to 1994. She retired in 1997, became a broadcaster and entered the Hall of Fame in 2002.
| Other grass singles titles | 10: Birmingham 4 (1984, 1985, 1986, 1987); Brisbane 2 (1983, 1987); Newport 2 (1986, 1987); Perth (1981); Sydney (1988) |
|---|---|
| Major doubles titles | 10 doubles (Wimbledon 5, Australian 5) |
| Other grass doubles titles | 16: Eastbourne 6 (1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986); Brisbane 3 (1984, 1985, 1988); Sydney 3 (1980, 1981, 1982); Chichester 2 (1978, 1980); Adelaide (1980); Newport (1983) |
| Wimbledon doubles | Won 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1986 with Martina Navratilova. Final lost 1985 to Kathy Jordan and Elizabeth Smylie 7-5, 3-6, 4-6 |
| Wimbledon singles | Semi-finals 1981, 1987 and 1988 |
| Australian doubles on grass | 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1987 with Navratilova |
| Grand Slam 1984 | All four major doubles titles with Navratilova, Wimbledon among them, inside a 109-match winning streak that ran from April 1983 to July 1985 |
| Finals to remember | Wimbledon 1981: beat the holders Kathy Jordan and Anne Smith 6-3, 7-6 for her first major title. Australian 1987: beat Zina Garrison and Lori McNeil 6-1, 6-0 |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Women's doubles | with Martina Navratilova |
| 1982 | Women's doubles | with Martina Navratilova |
| 1983 | Women's doubles | with Martina Navratilova |
| 1984 | Women's doubles | with Martina Navratilova |
| 1986 | Women's doubles | with Martina Navratilova |
| Eastbourne | ||
| 1981 | Women's doubles†| with Martina Navratilova |
| 1982 | Women's doubles | with Martina Navratilova |
| 1983 | Women's doubles | with Martina Navratilova |
| 1984 | Women's doubles | with Martina Navratilova |
| 1985 | Women's doubles | with Martina Navratilova |
| 1986 | Women's doubles | with Martina Navratilova |
| National Panasonic Open | ||
| 1980 | Women's doubles†| with Betty Stöve |
| 1981 | Women's singles | |
| 1983 | Women's singles | |
| 1984 | Women's doubles | with Martina Navratilova |
| 1985 | Women's doubles | with Martina Navratilova |
| Australian Championships | ||
| 1982 | Women's doubles Australian Open | with Martina Navratilova |
| 1983 | Women's doubles Australian Open | with Martina Navratilova |
| 1984 | Women's doubles Australian Open | with Martina Navratilova |
| 1985 | Women's doubles Australian Open | with Martina Navratilova |
| 1987 | Women's doubles Australian Open | with Martina Navratilova |
| New South Wales Championships | ||
| 1980 | Women's doubles†New South Wales Open | with Betty Stöve |
| 1981 | Women's doubles†New South Wales Open | with Martina Navratilova |
| 1982 | Women's doubles New South Wales Open | with Martina Navratilova |
| 1988 | Women's singles New South Wales Open | |
| Birmingham | ||
| 1984 | Women's singles | |
| 1985 | Women's singles | |
| 1986 | Women's singles | |
| 1987 | Women's singles | |
| Newport, Rhode Island | ||
| 1983 | Women's doubles Virginia Slims of Newport | with Barbara Potter |
| 1986 | Women's singles Virginia Slims of Newport | |
| 1987 | Women's singles Virginia Slims of Newport | |
| Chichester | ||
| 1978 | Women's doubles†| with Janet Newberry |
| 1980 | Women's doubles†| with Betty Stöve |
| Brisbane Women's Classic | ||
| 1988 | Women's doubles | with Betsy Nagelsen |
| 1988 | Women's singles | |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"I never had to worry about the middle of the court because I knew she had it covered."
The person behind the player.
US Open 1978
Seeded 16th and still an amateur, she beat the top seed, Martina Navratilova, 7-6, 7-6 in the semi-finals and became the youngest US Open finalist to that point. She lost the final to Chris Evert 7-5, 6-4. Evert's verdict on the teenager was that "she stayed cool."
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameFlorida · October 1980
Navratilova rang her during a tournament in Florida to ask her to play doubles. "It didn't take me long to say yes," Shriver wrote. She had won three of their 40 singles matches. They lost the final of their first event together, then won Wimbledon in 1981, beating the defending champions Kathy Jordan and Anne Smith.
Source: ESPN.comWimbledon 1985 · Final
From April 1983 they won 109 matches in a row, taking in eight major titles. The run ended in the Wimbledon final of 1985, when Kathy Jordan and Elizabeth Smylie came back to win 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 after Shriver and Navratilova had led by a break in the third set. They won Wimbledon again the next year.
Source: ESPN.comUS Open 1986 · Quarter-final
Navratilova beat her 6-2, 6-4, a 16th straight win over her partner. Asked whether she would be ready for their doubles later that day, Shriver said: "I'll go back and sob for 45 minutes and then go out and play." Playing with Navratilova after a loss, she added, was "more pleasant than not playing with her."
Source: Detroit Free Press, via mitchalbom.comUS Open 1986
For all the hours they spent together in practice and in doubles, Shriver admitted she still could not read her partner in singles: "I play Martina 8,000 times and I still can't tell you what she's going to do with her forehand." Navratilova, for her part, called the win over her friend "not a pleasurable win."
Source: Detroit Free Press, via mitchalbom.comWimbledon 2010 · Court 5
Commentating courtside for ESPN, she was loud enough for James Blake to hear her during his match. He looked up into the stands and told her he could still hear her. She passed his remarks on to the commentators in the booth, and the exchange went out on air.
Source: Tennis.comFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
Join freePage updated 3 November 2026. Spotted an error? Send a correction.
_06_(cropped).jpg){kind=link}