Pam Shriver is very passionate about women’s tennis and is a former US Open singles finalist.
Shriver, who was Donna Vekic’s coach until recently, is also a former doubles world number one and won a combined 22 Grand Slam titles in her career.
There is often a debate about the differences between men’s and women’s tennis, and what can be done for both tours to be treated equally.
Now, Shriver has revealed her wish for the WTA Tour that she believes would make it ‘so much better’.
Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty ImagesPam Shriver reveals her hope for women’s tennis that would make it ‘so much better’
There have been six different winners in the past six years in the women’s singles event at the US Open.
Aryna Sabalenka is currently the reigning US Open champion, with the likes of Emma Raducanu, Naomi Osaka and Bianca Andreescu also winning the prestigious title in recent years.
When speaking to Talking Tennis about Raducanu, Shriver went on to explain how much she thought women’s tennis would benefit from the likes of the 2021 US Open champion, Osaka and Andreescu all returning to their previous heights.
“And now she is here at 22 years old, kind of step by step getting better in her game figuring out how to, talking about someone who needs to figure out how to stay healthy it’s Raducanu,” said Shriver.
“I know a lot of people question all the turnover in her coaching team, but as you know she’s healthy and clear in her head how she wants to construct points, you know she can lean on a lot of different voices and seems to be able to do pretty well.
“And let’s hope…I mean women’s tennis would be so much better if Andreescu, if Raducanu, if Osaka and those are all past US Open winners, Osaka obviously a couple of Australian’s as well.
“But, we need these past major winners that should still be in their prime to be able to be a part of the conversation and then can you imagine what we would have on the women’s side, so that’s my hope for women’s tennis is that does happen.”
Raducanu has made recent improvements to her game that were on show at the Washington Open where she reached the semifinals.
During that run, Raducanu actually beat Osaka, who appears to be struggling to return to the player that was once world number one.
Osaka has recently split from coach Patrick Mouratoglou and is now working on a trial basis with Iga Swiatek’s former coach Tomasz Wiktorowski.
The former US Open champion that Shriver mentioned who appears furthest from her best out of the three is Bianca Andreescu.
Andreescu won her first match at the Canadian Open, but was left in tears after injuring her ankle in the last game of the match.
This has been a familiar feeling for the Canadian, who has dealt with many different injury struggles and is currently ranked down at world number 187.
Former US Open ChampionCareer-high RankingCurrent RankingNaomi Osaka (2018 & 2020)No.1No.49Bianca Andreescu (2019)No.4No.187Emma Raducanu (2021)No.10No.33Pam Shriver reveals if she thinks Emma Raducanu can win another Grand Slam
Raducanu won the US Open as a qualifier in 2021, stunning the sporting world by making history at just 18 years old.
The Briton has dealt with many injury struggles of her own since then and underwent surgeries to both of her wrists and left ankle in 2023.
Raducanu has been unable to surpass the fourth round of a major tournament since then, with Shriver now giving her verdict on if she can add to her major tally.
“Well listen, if you can come out of qualifying and win ten straight matches in straight sets, I’m not going to say she can’t do it again,” said Shriver. “Obviously in the last say three and a half years, four years she’s kind of fallen back into kind of like a solid player with some good results during the year.
“But if you just took her resume, take that US Open out, that one tournament out, you would probably say no she’s not going to win one. She might have some quarterfinals, semifinals, but when you know that somebody’s had the mindset to do it once you always think sure, they can do it again.”
Ironically since Raducanu won the US Open in 2021, it has actually been the only Grand Slam tournament where she has failed to win a single match.
Grand SlamEmma Raducanu’s ResultAustralian Open 2022Lost in the second round to Danka KovinicRoland Garros 2022Lost in the second round to Aliaksandra SasnovichWimbledon 2022Lost in the second round to Caroline GarciaUS Open 2022Lost in the first round to Alize CornetAustralian Open 2023Lost in the second round to Coco Gauff (7)Australian Open 2024Lost in the second round to Yafan Wang Wimbledon 2024Lost in the fourth round to Lulu Sun (Q)US Open 2024 Lost in the first round to Sofia KeninAustralian Open 2025Lost in the third round to Iga Swiatek (2)Roland Garros 2025Lost in the second round to Iga Swiatek (5)Wimbledon 2025Lost in the third round to Aryna Sabalenka (1)
In 2025, Raducanu has only lost to Aryna Sabalenka and Swiatek at Grand Slam tournaments.
Becoming seeded for the US Open has to be a big goal for Raducanu, and she will look to continue her rise up the rankings when she plays Peyton Stearns at the Canadian Open.