Pam Shriver departs Donna Vekic's coaching team despite 'one of the best experiences'

Pam Shriver is closing the book on a chapter of her career that she says has been "one of the best experiences" in more than 50 years in tennis.

The International Tennis Hall of Famer announced Wednesday that she will no longer be a coaching consultant for world No. 22 Donna Vekic, a role she has been in since 2022.

The California resident, who also commentates tennis for U.S. television, cited a desire to 'lean into' her community and family's wellbeing as the reason for her departure. Earlier this year, Shriver was deeply affected by the wildfires that ravaged southern California in January and burned nearly 60,000 acres of land. That included Shriver's own Brentwood, a Los Angeles suburb, and she was forced to briefly evacuate her home to escape encroaching flames. Shriver's car, and a dozen of her Grand Slam trophies, were subsequently stolen from the hotel at which she was sheltering; the trophies were later returned.

Read more: Pam Shriver recovers her Grand Slam trophies that were stolen during L.A. wildfires

"It's been a challenging year," Shriver confessed in her post on X, formerly Twitter, that announced the news.

While Shriver was Vekic's primary coach—first, the 22-time Grand Slam doubles champion worked alongside Vekic's fellow Croatian Nikola Horvat, and later, 2018 WTA Coach of the Year Sascha Baijin, whom Vekic hired ahead of the 2025 season—she was along for the ride in some of the 28-year-old's biggest career highights over the last three years.

Read more: Donna Vekic adds Sascha Bajin to her coaching team for 2025

Last year, Vekic had her career-best Grand Slam result with a run to the semifinals at Wimbledon, where she lost the longest semifinal in tournament history to Jasmine Paolini. Weeks later, she won a silver medal at the Paris Olympics in a historic first for a Croatian woman. On her way to the podium, Vekic upset Coco Gauff, and saved a match point en route to defeating Marta Kostyuk in the quarterfinals.

In January, Vekic reached a career-high ranking of No. 17, but she is 8-15 so far in 2025.