Joe Shapiro's Widow Responds to Trump SAT Allegation

By now my fellow tennis fans have probably heard the bizarre twist in the "Donald Trump paid a friend to take the SATs for him" story -- said friend is the late husband of Pam Shriver. Various news agencies are reporting that she said there was no way the test-taking allegation could be true, quoting her as saying Joe Shapiro -- a lawyer and a former executive of the Walt Disney Co.. who died in 1999 after a battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma -- "always did the right thing, and that's why this hurts." But two things come to mind watching this official statement: I don’t actually hear Pam disputing Mary Trump’s claim. (If anything, Pam lends credence to why Trump would have asked for Joe’s assistance.) And secondly, it never occurred to me to look down on the smart person who helped out -- it's the person who cheated his way into a school whose integrity I question. Of course I feel for her. She loves and wants to protect her late husband. But the truth is she has no idea what transpired 30 years before they began their May/December-of-the-year-after relationship. 

My statement about my late husband, Joe Shapiro. @CNN @MSNBC @washingtonpost @nytimes @latimes @Santucci @ABC pic.twitter.com/tAlCF1VANn

— Pam Shriver (@PHShriver) July 8, 2020

Read about their unconventional romance HERE.

Tales From the Underground Tennis DVD Market

The best part about this is post on my Facebook wall is that Dave was my old boss -- and he just happened to be a Chris Evert queen with Tracy rising! Not only did he become a great friend, he's mailing me the DVD!

I tweeted at Pam and she immediately "liked" it!

I didn't have a camera with me when I met her in 1981. But here's Tracy at the Rancho Bernardo Inn in 2012 at the club's 50th anniversary!

Pam Shriver and Mary Joe Fernandez Rock Former Looks for 'Take Me Back' Tuesday

Hilarious video about the U.S. Open featuring Pam Shriver (1978 finalist) and Mary Joe Fernandez (1990 and '92 semifinalist) dressed in some of their old looks. Hard to believe it's been 38 years since the tournament moved to Flushing Meadows, which for a long time we thought was really Meadow and just being mispronounced, à la Silver Spring. I vividly remember being devastated that Shriver had reached the final when my new love -- Tracy Austin -- had been eliminated in the quarters, albeit living up to her seeding matching her 1977 result during which our romance began. Shriver too ended up losing to Chris Evert, but despite winning it all the following year, Tracy's hair never matched that of the legend of Lutherville!

Game, Set and Bitch!

   I see YouTube has finally gotten a clip of (what was once) one of the saddest days of my life, the 1981 Wimbledon quarterfinal when Pam Shriver finally ended her 1,000-match losing streak to Tracy Austin. Tracy was my fave and just returning from a back injury when she squared off against the legend of Lutherville, who came into the match with a full-on-attack plan. That one inside-in forehand passing shot Tracy hit when down match point rivals the Roger Federer match-point-down-backhand vs. Rafael Nadal back in 2008, but it was too little too late. (LOVE the hand "shake"!!!) After the streak was broken -- and Pam cursed her out later that summer in Toronto for being "too happy" about exacting revenge -- the childhood rivals ended up becoming friendly, even playing doubles during one of Tracy's ill-fated comebacks in the late '80s. I, too, eventually came to appreciate Pam (as a commentator), even if it was too late to retract that vicious letter to the editor in World Tennis I wrote as a young boy ("Pam Slammed") saying she would never win a major singles title! (I was right, but still.)