Who Is Donna Vekic’s Legendary American Coach? Everything to Know About This Iconic Pairing

In February,Croatian tennis player Donna Vekic‘s mystery coach stormed the internet. Rumors brewed that Vekic’s new coach was an American former tennis star with a record of 133 WTA tour titles. Till 2022, Nikola Horvat had been Donna Vekic’s primary coach, but things changed after the 2022 Cincinnati Open. Now it’s another famous tennis personality and broadcaster, Pam Shriver, who has taken up the mantle.

From John Evert to Sam Symuk, many famous tennis personalities helped Donna Vekic. In an Instagram story from February 2024, Vekic shared a photo of a person holding a phone, where fans could spot their messages. There they saw a message about the legendary coach and broadcaster Pam Shriver and Donna Vekic. The message read: “I met Pam Shriver and Donna Vinci who is ranked 28 in the WTA. I let them park in my lot. I know I am not spelling the name correctly.”

Sharing this message in her story, Vekic wrote, “Thanks for letting us park Cedric.” This hinted at a new partnership between the player and the coach, whose bond goes way back as they first met at the San Diego Open in October 2022. Vekic even surprised this veteran coach last year on her 61st birthday.

Fast forward to July 2024, the duo is on fire as Vekic just made her first Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon after clearing the main draw 11 years ago. While Vekic was ousted early from the Berlin Open, despite reaching the finals last year. But before her rankings could plummet any more, taking her out of the top 50, Vekic pulled through to a finals appearance at Bad Homburg and shot up to the top 40. After this Grass Slam, the World No. 37 might just find her place back in the top 20! It would be enough to move anyone to tears.

After the two met in 2022, Shriver started out by giving out some advice to Vekic and was “hooked” by her performance. “I can still remember to this day, she beat Sakkari, and then she took on Pliskova and beat Pliskova, and then she took on Sabalenka and beat Sabalenka in the quarters. She took on Danielle Collins in the semis and I got hooked – because I know how it is,” Shriver raved. “If you have something on your team that’s a little bit of a change but things are going well, you want to keep that – you don’t want to let that go.”

Last year, Vekic made it to the her second Grand Slam quarter-final in Australia, losing to eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka. Then came her 4th WTA title in Monterrey and though the time after that was tough, the Croatian player and her American coach braved through it.

Come 2024 Wimbledon, this spartnership has reached it’s greatest heights yet. Up against Lulu Sun in the QF, the sensational Kiwi at the All England Club this season, Vekic eked out a brilliant victory and couldn’t help but gush over Shriver, who has commentating plus playing experience on her side.

“Well, Pam is, first of all, a great person off the court. She’s had an amazing career. She has so much experience, especially because playing, and then the last couple of years she’s been commentating. She knows all the players really well…she has all the experience, so she can help me in some crucial moments. She’s great fun. I’m really proud to have her in my team.”

Vekic teared up during her post-match interview because three years ago, she was struggling to recover from a knee surgery and had contemplated ending her career early. But with persevarance and Pam Shriver by her side, the 28-year-old is back in the game.

And although a 22-time doubles Grand Slam champion may be by her side, the Croatian player still has moments of rebellion against her team!

When Donna Vekic was ‘angry’ at her team

Although the WTA star has been singing praises of the people in her box at Wimbledon 2024, it’s natural to have a minor tussle now and then. As the Croatian stated, there was a moment when she was ‘angry’ because in-game coaching had not benefitted her. “Probably not,” Vekic laughed at the post match conference. “I told them to shut up five times during the match. Probably not.”

But at the same time, she expalined how she was “so angry at myself…I don’t know where those double-faults came from. I wasn’t particularly nervous. I was surprised that I was just hitting double-faults.” Throughout this turmoil, Shriver had been shouting out some advice, as Vekic continued, “I was like, No, this is not happening right now. I could hear Pam shouting, Reset, reset. I was like, Reset what?”

But Lulu Sun, despite her slashing through the competition with her racquet, had to bow down to Donna Vekic. The Croatian sits at no. 20 in live WTA rankings, and might actually solidify them if she manages to make it through the last four!