The tennis ball, an undisturbed artifact of a horrific wildfire, sat simply off the Pacific Palisades court docket and was so lined in grey ash that its Penn emblem was solely faintly seen.
Pam Shriver studied it the best way she may a valuable archaeological discovery.
“I find that so moving,” the Corridor of Fame tennis participant mentioned. “The ball survived.”
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Tennis legend Pam Shriver talks in regards to the ongoing effort to revive tennis courts that have been broken through the Palisades fireplace in January.
All of that is intensely private to Shriver, as it’s to tens of millions of Southern Californians. She lives in Brentwood and although she was evacuated within the January fires, her residence was spared. Nonetheless, extra pals and households than she will rely weren’t so lucky.
That has been the driving power for her the previous eight months, how she will use tennis and her affect to assist rebuild the communities most severely affected by the catastrophic flames.
“Tennis brings people together,” mentioned Shriver, a part of ESPN’s U.S. Open broadcast workforce. “It gets families moving. It creates a sense of normalcy.”
Normalcy has been in brief provide through the previous eight months, and Shriver has been keenly conscious of that dwelling amid the cleanup of the Palisades and touring the devastation of Altadena. It’s so significant to her, nearly poetic, that the game courts escaped comparatively unscathed.
“The nets, the wind screens, the fencing is gone,” she mentioned. “But the courts themselves are intact. There’s something symbolic about that. It’s the promise of resilience.”
Shriver and good friend Ilise Friedman are the driving power behind Village Rising, a basis created to revitalize communities disrupted by disaster or catastrophe.
Friedman, whose background is in fundraising, began the nonprofit in 2018 in response to the Woolsey fireplace, and later helped victims of the Getty fireplace in 2019 earlier than pausing the operation through the pandemic.
Pam Shriver, proper, and good friend Ilise Friedman play main roles within the Village Rising Basis, a nonprofit that works to revitalize communities disrupted by disaster or catastrophe.
(Sam Farmer / Los Angeles Instances)
When pals from around the globe started calling to donate after the January fires, Friedman restarted Village Rising with Shriver, now the group’s president. It’s predominantly a volunteer operation with enhancing faculties and sports activities applications at its core.
“Tennis is our through line,” Friedman mentioned. “Our mantra is, ‘Build a court, build a community.’”
Shriver was in Kona, Hawaii, along with her sons when the fires broke out, on her solution to cowl the Australian Open. When the severity of the scenario grew to become obvious, she got here again to Los Angeles and checked on her residence earlier than evacuating to a resort in Marina del Rey.
Whereas she was staying there, her son’s Dodge Durango was stolen from the parking zone. Behind the heisted SUV have been lots of her main championship trophies, together with 5 from the French Open, seven from the Australian and one from Wimbledon.
The automobile was by no means recovered, however about 10 days after the theft somebody dropped off the trophies behind the resort.
“If it was either the car or the trophies that would never come back, it worked out much better for me,” she mentioned. “My son might argue otherwise.”
1. Pam Shriver and Ilise Freidman stroll across the tennis courts on the Palisades Tennis Middle on Aug. 16. 2. Tennis balls scorched by the Palisades fireplace have been nonetheless on the courts on the Palisades Tennis Middle. (Sam Farmer / Los Angeles Instances)
In comparison with what others have misplaced, the stolen automobile is a mere inconvenience. Enter Village Rising, whose aim is to determine neglected parks and faculties broken by the fireplace, increase funds and distribute grants rapidly.
“We want the money to flow through to where it’s needed quickly,” Shriver mentioned. “We don’t want to sit on it.”
The tennis connection is clear, however Shriver additionally has served on 4 personal faculty boards, and her boys attended native faculties within the Palisades. She’s significantly targeted on underfunded faculties within the Altadena space the place fireplace harm has waylaid rebuilding efforts.
“It’s about lifting up places that were left behind,” she mentioned.
In her storied enjoying profession, Shriver reached the ladies’s singles finals of the U.S. Open in 1978 at age 16, received an Olympic gold medal in 1988, however is finest recognized for her doubles play, principally with Martina Navratilova. They received seven Australian Open, 5 Wimbledon, 4 U.S. Open and 4 French Open titles.
Now, a brand new problem to beat alongside Friedman.
“This is like doubles,” Shriver mentioned.
And the energy of her recreation again then?
Naturally, service.
