Pam Shriver

Pro tennis is littered with fragile young women who tried to play too much too soon. But at Pam Shriver's 12th First Union/Signet Bank Tennis Challenge on Tuesday at the Baltimore Arena, fans will see three survivors.No. 3 Amanda Coetzer, No. 5 Monica Seles and No. 28 Chanda Rubin are young women who began playing on the pro tour as teen-agers and appear here at a time when each seems headed for new frontiers.In Coetzer, who began on the tour at 16, the charity event has come up with one of the hottest players on the tour -- her first-round defeat in the Chase Championships in New York last week notwithstanding.

Baltimore tennis star Pam Shriver has chartered a small sailboat for Dec. 5. On that day, her husband's birthday and the date of their first wedding anniversary, she and a handful of their closest friends will sail out three miles from the shoreline and scatter his ashes over the waters of the Pacific.Joe Shapiro died on Sept. 23 at age 52 of complications related to cancer, nine months after he married Pam in a celebrity-filled wedding in Palm Springs, Calif. Pam had known, of course, that her fiance had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system, in 1994.

Pam Shriver is driving down the highway in full Southern California mode -- meaning she is on her cell phone -- trying to recall the night her fiance proposed to her in a little French bistro in Santa Monica. "Let's see, it was (over) something meaty, beef, I think," she says. "Boeuf Bourguignon," her fiance can be heard prompting her. "And we had red wine," Shriver continues. "Chateauneuf-du-Pape," he chimes in. Hold the phone, Miss Moneypenny, but I'll be snookered if that gentleman with the discriminating tastes and the foreign accent talking in the background doesn't sound like Bond.

Three years ago, neither Monica Seles nor Mary Joe Fernandez was sure she'd find her way back to professional tennis.Seles' ordeal was a public one: She was stabbed in the back during a changeover at a tournament in Hamburg, Germany, in April 1993.Fernandez's struggle was a private one: In August 1993, she underwent surgery to find out what had been causing searing abdominal pain for six years.Fernandez remembers her last thought on the way to the operating room as, "This could be it. I may never play tennis again."

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. - Pam Shriver can sit on her patio, look far off into the distance and count the flights in and out of the Los Angeles airport. "My record is 11 at one time," she said, thankful for every one she isn't on. Last spring, she put a moratorium on travel for herself and her soon-to-be husband, George Lazenby. Both enjoyed the time at home here with their view of the Pacific Ocean. But this weekend, she is on the other side of the continent - in Newport, R.I., for tomorrow's induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

NAME: Pam ShriverCLAIM TO FAME: President of the Women's Tennis Association.WORK LIFE: Professional tennis player.HOME LIFE: Single.PASSIONS: Low-fat frozen yogurt, women's tennis, politics, public service.QUOTE: "Do as much as you can now, because you don't know how long it will last."

"Among Schoolchildren" by Tracy Kidder. It's about the difference a good teacher can make in a child's life, indeed, in society. A fellow teacher gave it to me. I'm also reading "Passing Shots" by Pam Shriver and Frank DeFord and Dick Francis' "Decider." My aunt gave it to me. There are interesting parallels to the racetrack situation now in Maryland. It's a great book.-- Gerry Brewster, new teacher at Chesapeake High School, Eastern Baltimore County

WIMBLEDON, England -- Pam Shriver and Martina Navratilova, reunited as a Grand Slam doubles team for the first time in two years, fell one step short of reaching the Wimbledon women's final yesterday.After defeating Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Helena Sukova, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) in a rain-delayed quarterfinal, Shriver and Navratilova had to play a semifinal match. But the team that has shared 20 Grand Slam victories was beaten by Larisa Savchenko and Natalia Zvereva, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.Savchenko and Zvereva will meet Gigi Fernandez and Jana Novotna in the final.

Usually, broadcaster and Hall-of-Fame tennis player Pam Shriver is running around like crazy during the U.S. Open in New York, trying to nail down participants for her annual charity match in Baltimore later in the year. But not this year. Shriver has already completed her guest list, which features world No. 5 singles player Andy Roddick and the world No. 1 doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan. "It's fun the way it has all fallen into place," Shriver said from Los Angeles International Airport as she prepared to head east to Connecticut for this weekend's final tournament before next week's U.S. Open.

1 It's a Blast,: Blast, Blast: The first-place Blast hosts second-place Monterrey at 7:35 p.m. at 1st Mariner Arena. The league is the NISL, by the way. 2 Off the bench: The Pistons have just turned Rip Hamilton into a sixth man. See how it's working (Mavericks at Pistons, 7 p.m., ESPN). 3 Our Pammy: Regardless of who is playing at the Australian Open (7 p.m., 11:30 p.m., ESPN2), Baltimore's own Pam Shriver (left) will be analyzing. 4 Gael warning: No. 5 Mount St. Joseph hosts No. 3 Calvert Hall at 7 p.m. in a matchup of boys basketball powers.