NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Sport / Tennis

Tennis creep asked tennis great Pam Shriver about her teen sex life

news.com.au
24 Apr, 2017 02:00 AM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Tennis player Pam Shriver of the United States walks onto the courts prior to her match at the women 1978 U.S. Open Tennis Tournament. Photo / Getty

Tennis player Pam Shriver of the United States walks onto the courts prior to her match at the women 1978 U.S. Open Tennis Tournament. Photo / Getty

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Tennis darling and Aussie fan favourite Pam Shriver has revealed suspended tennis great Ilie Nastase badgered her about her sex life during her teenage years.

With the tennis world still in shock over Nastase's recent controversies, Shriver's revelation that Nastase repeatedly asked her about her sex life has bolstered claims from some tennis commentators for the Romanian champion to be banned from professional tennis.

Nastase, 70, was heavily criticised for sparking a racism furore surrounding Serena Williams' pregnancy when he publicly questioned what skin colour the American's first child will have.

"Let's see what colour it (the baby) has. Chocolate with milk," Nastase asked during a press conference ahead of the Federations Cup tie between Romania and Britain.

He was on Sunday expelled from the Fed Cup tie with Britain for "serious misconduct" after a foul-mouthed rant towards a chair umpire and England's Johanna Konta.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

According to reports, he also used foul and abusive language courtside to pregnant British captain Anna Keovathong - whose room number he'd asked for at the press conference.

He was reported to have described the British duo as "f***ing bitches" during a rant on court.

Nastase had also been riled by the umpire appealing to the crowd for calm with the Romanian captain interjecting: "It's not the opera, what's your f***ing problem?" After a lengthy delay to proceedings, Nastase was banished to the stands before being finally kicked out of the tournament.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Now Shriver has come forward as another victim of disrespectful and creepy conduct by the former World No. 1 and two-time grand slam singles champion.

Shriver burst onto the professional tennis circuit as a 16-year-old when she made a run through to the final of the US Open in 1978, losing to champion Chris Evert.

She went on to win 22 grand slam doubles titles and became a darling of Australian tennis after marrying Aussie actor George Lazenby and becoming a tennis commentator with Channel 7.

Shriver and Lazenby divorced in 2008.

Discover more

Tennis

Game, Set and Match podcast Apr 21

20 Apr 09:39 PM
Tennis

Williams vs Alliss would be some sight

21 Apr 05:00 PM
Tennis

Djokovic bundled out in Monaco

22 Apr 02:53 AM
Tennis

Nasty Nastase ejected from Fed Cup clash

22 Apr 06:24 PM

Shriver said Nastase regularly asked her if she was a virgin until she had to order him to back off after four years of questions.

"In my first two years on the tour, I recall right when I was around my final US Open at 16, when I saw Ilie Nastase for the next four to five years, anytime I saw him at any tournament he would ask me the same question," Shriver told BBC 5live Radio.

"It was 'Are you still a virgin?' I'm a teenager, I'm playing the tour and it was a shocking thing. I'd never had anybody ask me that before.

"He was a known jokester and he did it in a joking way but I can remember as I got older - I was about 20 and it must have been the 30th time he asked me that same question - I just said, 'Would you please stop, would you stop asking me that'.

"Sort of to his credit, he never asked me again. I set a firm boundary and he stopped."

Shriver said she believes Nastase's career as a tennis official is over after the International Tennis Federation (ITF) suspended him following his antics during the Fed Cup tie.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"You want the punishment to match the crime and he behaved really badly," Shriver said.

"I think it has all gone too far. I think it is over now, I think he is done as a coach, certainly in any formal setting.

"Everybody has a couple of different sides to their personality and certainly not all of Ilie Nastase is evil and mean and sexist. But unfortunately he does not have a filter and there is a side that is, so he can't coach women players any more."

Nastase was suspended on Sunday for his foul-mouthed and abusive behaviour during Romania's scandal-hit Fed Cup tie with Britain.

In another bizarre twist, British captain Keovathong revealed Nastase had sent her flowers in a peace-making gesture.

It is too little too late for many tennis commentators for Nastase to save his career.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The ITF also released a statement when it announced Nastase had been suspended pending an investigation.

"The ITF's Internal Adjudication Panel has issued Ilie Nastase with a provisional suspension under the Fed Cup regulations for a breach of the Fed Cup welfare policy at the tie in Constanta," the ITF said in a statement.

"Nastase may not participate in the Fed Cup in any capacity with immediate effect and shall be denied access to, and accreditation for, any ITF event including Fed Cup."

However, Nastase blatantly ignored the ban on Sunday and turned up at the venue on the Black Sea coast, walking into the VIP lounge before being asked to leave by the Romanian Tennis Federation president.

After his slur against Williams, who will give birth in September, Nastase was still raging on Sunday (AEDT).

He was warned twice by the umpire for unsportsmanlike conduct as Konta took on Sorana Cirstea in the day's second rubber.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Nastase screamed at the umpire: "It's not the opera, what's your fucking problem?" Konta broke down in tears after the abuse - leading to the rubber being temporarily suspended - and left the court, subsequently being criticised by her opponent Cirstea for overreacting.

"With all due respect to Sorana she was not in my shoes on that end of the court being verbally threatened," Konta, beaten by Simona Halep on Sunday, told the BBC.

"Any abuse is not alright, but when it's a couple of metres away from you, screaming at you, I think that's a different ball game."

Amidst the controversy, Romania won the tie when Irina-Camelia Begu beat Heather Watson to qualify for the World Group in 2018 while Britain were relegated to the Europe/Africa Zone.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Tennis

Tennis

Sun stuns world number 16 ahead of Wimbledon return

23 Jun 07:09 PM
Sport|tennis

‘They hoped I would get cancer’ – Tennis star on shocking online abuse she suffers

17 Jun 11:48 PM
Tennis

Alcaraz stuns Sinner in in five-set thriller to win French Open

08 Jun 07:07 PM

Kaibosh gets a clean-energy boost in the fight against food waste

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Tennis

Sun stuns world number 16 ahead of Wimbledon return

Sun stuns world number 16 ahead of Wimbledon return

23 Jun 07:09 PM

The match featured windy conditions, making play challenging for both.

‘They hoped I would get cancer’ – Tennis star on shocking online abuse she suffers

‘They hoped I would get cancer’ – Tennis star on shocking online abuse she suffers

17 Jun 11:48 PM
Alcaraz stuns Sinner in in five-set thriller to win French Open

Alcaraz stuns Sinner in in five-set thriller to win French Open

08 Jun 07:07 PM
Gauff triumphs over Sabalenka in epic French Open final

Gauff triumphs over Sabalenka in epic French Open final

07 Jun 05:55 PM
Engage and explore one of the most remote places on Earth in comfort and style
sponsored

Engage and explore one of the most remote places on Earth in comfort and style

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP