PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. - Pam Shriver can sit on her patio, look far off into the distance and count the flights in and out of the Los Angeles airport.
"My record is 11 at one time," she said, thankful for every one she isn't on.
Last spring, she put a moratorium on travel for herself and her soon-to-be husband, George Lazenby. Both enjoyed the time at home here with their view of the Pacific Ocean.
But this weekend, she is on the other side of the continent - in Newport, R.I., for tomorrow's induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame is an unusual place for a female tennis player from Baltimore to wind up. None ever had until now.
"I don't think I knew about the Tennis Hall of Fame growing up in Baltimore," she said, sitting on that patio with the sun glinting off the swimming pool and hawks soaring by at eye level. I can remember in 1983, the first time I went there, I thought, 'Oh, wow, we have a sports hall of fame!' "
But Shriver never imagined she would get in on the first ballot in her first year of eligibility.
"Really, until I got the letter from Tony Trabert saying I had been elected, got 80 percent of the vote, I thought it might take a couple go-rounds. I didn't take anything for granted.
"To go into the Hall of Fame, it means you've reached a certain level of excellence in your sport. It's like the final period - or an exclamation point!"
When that letter came, she called her mom back home in Baltimore and cried as she read it over the phone.
Everyday life
When Shriver welcomes you into her home, the first place you find yourself is in her kitchen, a room that could have been lifted out of the south of France, with its mountainous views and sunny yellow walls. She demonstrates her ability to throw together a salad of greens, mangos, avocado and leftover steak.
It's that everyday way of living that has never eluded her and that makes her seem so normal.
Dressed casually in shorts, shirt and tennis shoes, she laughed at a question about her life now, a life made possible by her tennis career.
"You mean, what do I do now that I've grown up and have my own rose garden?" she said, looking at the huge flowers blooming along the black iron fence that separates the patio from a cliff.
Her day starts with 45 minutes on the phone, returning calls. The work she does now revolves around her Baltimore office and the business needs of her annual charitable event, the Baltimore Challenge Tennis Tournament. She also continues to serve on the U.S. Tennis Association's board. And she is involved with an annual award at California State University-Los Angeles given in the name of her late husband, Joe Shapiro. And then, of course, there are interview requests and broadcast work.
She earned $5.4 million during her career and again as much in endorsements.
"Most of it went into savings," she said. "I've been reasonably smart with it and grown what I had. So, no, I don't have to work like most people do in terms of earning a paycheck. But I do have to work from the psychological standpoint.
"I like the broadcasting. I love doing the four majors [Australian, French and U.S. opens and Wimbledon]. I love the drama of it. And I like that I'm still improving my [broadcasting] skills. I'm respected. And I'm not ready to give it up."
But, as she settles into this tennis afterlife, she acknowledges it becomes harder to pack for the next trip.
"I can now see a point where I won't want to go at all," Shriver said. "George and I still hope to have kids - our own or adopt - and as I find myself caring for a home, work becomes less and less appealing."
Pam who?
After her phone calls, she eases into breakfast with Lazenby, who teases her: "When they introduce you for your Hall of Fame induction as Mrs. Lazenby, they'll say, 'Pam Lazenby? Who the hell is that?' "
She flashes an evil grin at him. "I guess, in that case, I won't be using that name, will I?" she said.
Shriver and Lazenby, a personable Australian who played James Bond in the 1969 film On Her Majesty's Secret Service and is now more or less retired from the movie business, were married in a private ceremony on their patio June 12 attended by 12 of their closest friends and family.
"We're at a nice place as a couple," Shriver said. "We drink our coffee together and make our breakfasts. We have a wonderful stove and oven and though neither of us are gourmet cooks, we like to go to the farmer's market and buy lots of fresh produce and make our meals."
She still works out in a way that would be rigorous for most people. Lazenby tells her continually that she overdoes it. "But that comes from a man who doesn't work out at all," she said, exaggerating.
Challenging climb
There is gym equipment in an upstairs room that she uses almost daily. There are steep streets outside her front door that she also likes to entice visitors into attacking with her.
"When we go around the corner to the next street, no more talking," she said, as the downhill portion of the workout came to an end. "Whenever I take George on this walk, he always seems to want to bear right onto a cross street. I have to put my shoulder into his to keep him on the proper course."
Around the corner, the street appears to go straight up to the clear blue sky. Shriver begins the steep climb and promises rewards - the view and "Kobe's house."
She has been talking about Kobe all morning. She seems happy to be able to show off a "real superstar's house."
"Kobe lives just around the corner," she said, never bothering to add that Kobe is Kobe Bryant, the Los Angles Lakers' All-Star guard.
Has she met or seen him?
"The next time I see him," she said, standing outside his gate, "will be the first time."
Shriver, who has played tennis since she was in elementary school and was in the U.S. Open final as a 16-year-old amateur, is able to do this walk because she has no knee or back problems from her 19-year pro career. Only a bum shoulder reminds her of all her on-court battles.
She takes great pride in being the last amateur finalist of a major tournament, but remembers along with the accomplishment came "baggage." People expected her to repeat the achievement.
"At times, in the year or so following that Open, I found it suffocating," she said. "I had a near breakdown emotionally. I lost a first-round match to a qualifier at the Open the next year and found myself sobbing. At 17, I thought my career was over."
It wasn't until 1980, "as a wise 18-year-old," that she found perspective. And at the end of that year, Martina Navratilova called and asked her to become her doubles partner.
Over the next 10 years, they won 79 titles, including 20 in Grand Slam events. But Shriver was more than a doubles specialist, and she doesn't hide her irritation when she hears someone refer to her that way.
"I sometimes do get a little upset about that," she said. "I was a finalist at the U.S. Open, I won 21 singles titles. I was No. 3 in the world. That's not what doubles specialists do.
"It would be a healthier thing if I was more secure in my own record so that when I heard people make remarks about doubles specialist that I'd just be OK with it. This Hall of Fame thing should put it to rest."
When she was No. 3 in the world, the two players in front of her were two of the greatest in the game - Navratilova and Chris Evert. On the court, she physically towered over them, as one of few 6-foot women in a game whose players averaged perhaps 5-8. Now, 15 years later, the average height is 5-10 and women like Venus and Serena Williams and Jennifer Capriati have made it a high-powered, athletic battle.
Asked how she'd fare among today's players, Shriver said: "I like to think if I had the same equipment and the same number of tournaments on friendly surfaces [grass and carpet], I'd still be Top 10 for a long time. But with the way the schedule is now, with so many clay and slow hard courts, I'd have a hard time."
Enjoying golf
These days, she is content to hit tennis balls and golf balls with Lazenby and play on a country club golf team. You come to understand that she loves golf, a game she started playing with her late husband. If it weren't for her shoulder, she and Lazenby would be playing 18 holes of golf together every possible day.
As it is, they play a lot of games together anyway.
Every other day, they hit tennis balls. Though Lazenby isn't Andre Agassi, he can smoke a serve every now and then. On this day, after putting a wicked ace past her, he turns, throws his shoulders back and struts with a broad smile.
"It was my second serve!" he said, beaming.
"I know," Shriver said, grinning back. "We can count."
Half an hour later, they've moved on to the practice tees and are driving buckets of golf balls. Then it's on to the putting greens. Lazenby pulls out a very old club and turns to Shriver and another friend.
"Have you ever seen a club like this?" he asked.
"Yeah, it looks like it's from the 16th century," said the friend.
"That's OK," Shriver chimed in. "George is from the 16th century."
Instead of being worried about their age difference - Shriver is 40, Lazenby 62 - they embrace it like two comedians.
"I've been a fan of tennis since the 1950s," said Lazenby.
"Before I was born," deadpanned Shriver.
Bat-a-boom.
"I met Pam for the first time in 1981, briefly, at a party in Sydney," Lazenby said. "I was obnoxiously dismissed."
"I prefer to say I shyly demurred," said Shriver.
"The first date, she looked at me like I was someone's father," he said. "Then she realized my intelligence was worth something - and that all men aren't built like me."
She doesn't argue. On this beautiful day, with a Hall of Fame induction ceremony about to put that exclamation point on her professional career, Mrs. Lazenby allows her husband the last word.
Shriver at a glance
Playing career
21 singles titles and 112 doubles titles.
One of just five women (Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova and Jana Novotna) to win more than 100 career titles in the Open era.
Ranked as high as No. 3 and was in the Top 10 in singles throughout the 1980s.
22 career doubles titles in Grand Slam events (seven Australian, five French, five Wimbledon and five U.S. Open championships) - 20 titles with Navratilova, one with Natasha Zvereva and one in mixed doubles with Emilio Sanchez.
In 1978, at age 16, she became the only amateur in the Open era to reach a U.S. Open singles final.
In 1984, she and Navratilova captured the first Grand Slam in women's doubles.
Teamed with Zina Garrison to win Olympic gold medal in doubles in 1988.
Member of victorious 1986, 1987 and 1989 U.S. Fed Cup teams.
Named WTA Tour's Comeback Player of the Year in 1991.
Post-playing career
Tennis analyst for ABC, CBS, ESPN, BBC and 7-Sport in Australia.
Runs the Baltimore Challenge Tennis Tournament, which has raised more than $3 million for children's charities.
Serving second term as member of U.S. Tennis Association board of directors.
President of the USA Tennis Foundation.
Vice president of the International Tennis Hall of Fame.