Pam’s in Demand : Author Shriver in Media Spotlight; Player Shriver at Rancho Bernardo

When a tennis player such as Pam Shriver becomes an author as well, she can be sure she will be in particular demand as a talk-show guest both in and out of the world of sports. This is fine with the gregarious Shriver, who is as at home in front of a microphone as she is at the net.

On Sunday, Shriver was in New York promoting her recently released book, “Passing Shots.” Monday, it was Seattle. Tuesday, San Francisco. Wednesday, Los Angeles. And Wednesday night, San Diego.

But wait, this one, the one in San Diego, was different. Very different.

“This,” she said Wednesday night, “was the weirdest show I’ve ever been on.”

Welcome to “Stanley Live,” with host Stanley Siegel. It may have been weird, but Shriver could handle it.

Wednesday night’s live, one-hour show on Channel 51 featured six of the eight women tennis players competing in the Audi Challenge at Rancho Bernardo Inn this weekend.

The main attraction was Shriver, ranked fifth in the world and the top seed here. She will face Kathy Horvath in today’s second match. In the first match, No. 4 seed Stephanie Rehe will meet Wendy Turnbull at 2.

On Wednesday night, however, Shriver sized up Siegel’s deliveries and decided it was going to be a fun and unusual evening.

As Shriver headed to the set while talking to a reporter, Siegel inquired if the reporter covered sports.

“No, he’s a television critic,” Shriver said.

That was the first of many barbs by Shriver.

“Make it rowdy,” Siegel told the women while they were finding their seats on the stage. “We like it rowdy.”

Music, signs urging the small audience to applaud loudly, lights . . . the show was on the air.

From the start, it was evident that Shriver--an eight-year pro who at 24 was the elder statesman of the players on the program--would carry the conversation.

Here goes the best of Shriver:

Question: Are there any skeletons in your closet that you left out of your book?

Answer:”I didn’t tell about the weekend we spent together.”

Q: Tennis isn’t much of a team sport, is it?

A: “We’re a team here tonight. We’re against you.”

Q: How much have you earned in purses so far this year?

A: “About $450,000.”

Q: How about in endorsements?

A: “None of your business.”

A picture was shown on the screen of Shriver dancing with Vice President George Bush at a White House function. Shriver campaigned for President Reagan in 1984.

Q: Are you related to the Democratic politician Sargent Shriver? And if you are, what did he think of you campaigning for a Republican?

A: “I think I’m a third cousin three times removed. . . . We’re not that close to that side of the family.”

That brought a chuckle from Shriver’s mother, Margot, and grandmother, who were in the audience. Marian Ketchum, one of the two grandmothers to whom Shriver dedicated her book, lives in Coronado. Throughout high school, Shriver used to visit her grandmother and practice at the public courts in Coronado.

Q: Didn’t you once go in the men’s locker room when Chris Evert (Lloyd) bet any of the women $200 they wouldn’t do it?

A: “Yes. It was at a tournament in Australia and there was a rain delay. Ivan Lendl and Stefan Edberg were in there.”

Q: Were they clothed?

A: “Yes.”

Q: Was that good?

A: “I had mixed emotions.”

Periodically, Siegel would plug the forthcoming tournament in Rancho Bernardo. One time, he said it was at “Rancho . . .,” and he was suddenly stuck.

Rancho where?

Shriver looked at Siegel, mouthed the word “Bernardo” and then gave him a wink.

Tennis itself even managed to get into the conversation.

Q: Pam, what about not winning the major singles titles? Do you have fire in the belly?

A: “I’m as much of a competitor as anyone on the tour. Remember that Chris (Evert Lloyd) and Martina (Navratilova) will go down as two of the greatest players of all time.”

In “Passing Shots,” Shriver delves into many serious matters.

On dating: “Being a 6-foot-tall tennis player is not great for a girl’s social life. If you do meet a young man, he’s liable to wonder if you’re a lesbian.”

Throughout the book, Shriver writes about her dates and near dates with men. In one passage, she discusses the art of flirting with guys in a weight room.

On lesbian relationships on the women’s tennis tour, Shriver says in her book: “The tour life style is too tough for a woman alone. That’s when some of the homosexual relationships start. What happens is a girl who’s been on the tour for a few years gets depressed. She’s probably had a steady boyfriend, but the distance or something broke that up, and she’s vulnerable.”

On drugs: “JoAnne Russell has a unique explanation for why there is no drug problem in women’s tennis. ‘Women players are too tight with their money to get high at their own expense,’ she says.”

On how happy she is to live in Lutherville, which is just five miles north of Baltimore: “Everywhere I go, people say, ‘You still live in Baltimore?’ But, gee, just because the Duchess of Windsor left Baltimore doesn’t mean every girl should. Blaze Starr, the stripper, is still there.”

Frank Deford of Sports Illustrated wrote the preface and Susan Adams edited “Passing Shots,” but Shriver wrote the book. She wrote in airplanes and hotel rooms. She wrote daily. And she wrote in longhand.

“I have horrible handwriting, horrible spelling and horrible grammar,” explained Shriver, who said she is slightly dyslexic. “When I was younger, I used to write and wing it.”

What started out as a magazine article turned into a book that became a key part of her life.

“It became like an obsession,” said Shriver, who is an insomniac and therefore often found herself jotting down notes in the middle of the night. “I didn’t see it as writing a book. I saw it as my days on the tour. If I had to write a novel, I’d start crying after three lines. But this was therapeutic. Sometimes after I’d lose a tough match, I’d find if I wrote about it, I’d get it out of my system.”

Now that another interview and another talk show was completed, Shriver headed to her grandmother’s house in Coronado to get some sleep. She had to be up early to appear on “Sun Up San Diego” Thursday morning.

The repartee on that show was nothing like what took place Wednesday night.