Pam Shriver, a respected broadcaster at 62, has a story that’s both inspiring and deeply troubling. She started working with coach Don Candy at just nine years old, and under his guidance, rose to the top of the game, even reaching the US Open final as a 16-year-old amateur. But at 17, she confessed her feelings to the 50-year-old Candy, and they began an affair. As time went by, she described her relationship as “inappropriate and damaging,” citing “emotional abuse.” The affair ended when she was 22. Now, following Jannik Sinner’s ban and subsequently Andy Roddick’s call for transparency within the ITIA, Shriver is bravely bringing the critical issue to the forefront: the prevalence of abuse in ‘modern’ professional tennis.

On February 18th, three days after Sinner’s settlement with WADA, Roddick aired a new episode(recorded prior to Sinner’s ban announcement) of his “Served with Andy Roddick” podcast. It featured a revealing conversation with Karen Moorhouse, the CEO of the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). Roddick discussed key issues, including how the ITIA works, “No Fault/No Negligence” cases and, most notably, why WADA decided to appeal and push for a reinvestigation of the ITIA’s initial ruling against the Italian.

Addressing the fact, Moorhouse stated, “We run the Anti-Doping and anti-corruption programmes for our tennis funders (ITF, WTA, ATP & the Four Grand Slams….This is the one area where they all work together and establish ITIA to run those programmes.”

Post which, the 2003 US Open champion posted a clip from the conversation on Instagram, where he stated, “I am in like this middle ground where I’m going to get the beat up no matter what I say because I don’t think he tried to cheat. Don’t he enhanced his performance because I trust people who knows the stuffs better than I do like scientists and experts…” 

And, right after the post, the former world No. 1 Pam Shriver added her remarks, stating “Thanks for informative episode on how ITIA works & interfaces with other tennis, anti doping, & anti corruption entities. I hope one day ITIA will add anti abuse as the third leg of safeguarding the integrity of tennis.  Anti abuse needs all 7 tennis entities working together. 🙏” But, surprisingly, why does she ask for anti-abuse as the third leg of safeguarding tennis?

Her advocacy is clear and unwavering, and one stark example highlights just how crucial her voice is: the disturbing Elena Rybakina-Stefano Vukov incident.

Elena Rybakina’s experience paints a stark picture of the kind of abuse Pam Shriver has been fighting against. Rybakina reportedly suffered relentless mental abuse, often leading to withdrawals from tournaments due to what were described as unexplained illnesses. As the situation worsened, she attempted to end her relationship with coach Stefano Vukov before the 2024 US Open. However, leading up to the Australian Open, she rehired him.

“It’s time for our entire sport to finally stand up to known abuse and cult-like manipulations of players. This is a very sad situation and my prayers are with ER (Rybakina)” Shriver added at that time.

Subsequently, Vukov was found to have violated the WTA Tour’s code of conduct and was banned from coaching for a year, with the requirement to undergo classes on appropriate coaching behavior.

And just when everyone thought of getting things off the chest, another living icon, Novak Djokovic, also shared his opinion on the case, which he spoke, on behalf of the whole locker room!

“Many of them believe there was favouritism,” Novak Djokovic following Jannik Sinner case

This past Saturday, the WADA announced that Sinner had been handed a ‘three-month’ suspension after failing two doping tests in March 2024. Initially, the ‘ITIA’ had ruled in August that the Italian bore “no fault or negligence” after testing positive for the anabolic steroid “Clostebol” during and after the Indian Wells Masters. The case was set to be heard at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on April 16, However, WADA later confirmed that it had reached an agreement with the Italian’s legal team, resulting in the three-time GS winner serving his suspension from February 9 to May 4.

Speaking to the pre-match press conference before his Qatar Open tie against Italian Matteo Berrettini, Djokovic revealed, “I spoke with several players in the locker room, not only in the last few days but also in the previous months. Most of them are not satisfied with how the whole process has gone, and they don’t think it’s fair. Many of them believe there was favouritism. It almost seems like you can influence the result if you are a top player, and if you have access to top lawyers and so on.”

Later, he also made a differentiation between the Sinner verdict with the cases of former players accused of doping. “We have seen the cases of Simona Halep and Tara Moore, and other players perhaps less known, who have had difficulties for years to resolve their cases, or who have been suspended for a long time. I think it is really time to do something and address the system, because it is clear that the structure does not work like this.”

Well, with Sinner accepting a three-month ban after repeatedly claiming his innocence, he is set to make a return in the Italian Open this year. Further, he is eligible to resume training from April 13 as per WADA.