Tennis legend recovers Grand Slam trophies stolen amid wildfire evacuation
Shriver, a 22-time major doubles champion and current ESPN commentator, revealed that she has recovered her Grand Slam trophies that were stolen inside her Dodge Durango Hellcat earlier this month after her family was forced to evacuate their Brentwood, California home as the Pacific Palisades wildfire raged, burning over 23,000 acres since Jan. 7.
‘Good news on my trophies (& family photos)- the LAPD detective in charge of the investigation has them at the police station being finger printed,’ Shriver wrote on X Friday, adding, ‘Today feels like we won another major!’
Shriver said 11 of her major trophies — five U.S. Open trophies, five Roland Garros plates and one Australian Open trophy — were in the back of the vehicle after her family fled to a hotel in Marina Del Rey, California.
‘I don’t think (the thieves) meant to take the trophies. I doubt they’re big tennis fans. They just happened to be in the back,’ Shriver told local new channel KTLA at the time. Family photos were among her possessions in the stolen car.
On Friday, Shriver told ESPN that the hotel staff found the trophies near the hotel on Monday morning. Surveillance footage showed that the hardware was returned by someone driving a vehicle that ‘fit, somewhat, the description’ of her stolen Dodge Durango Hellcat. She picked the trophies up from the police station on Tuesday after detectives fingerprinted them, but her black vehicle remains missing.
‘We still hope to find black Dodge Durango Hellcat in one piece,’ she wrote on X.
Shriver said she was overjoyed to be back in possession of her trophies. ‘It wasn’t just a sentiment to me. The trophies actually hold a pretty reasonable value as well,’ she told ESPN. ‘I do think getting a word out about the trophies helped get them back.’
Shriver and Martina Navratilova combined to form one of the most dominant women’s doubles teams in tennis history. They won 20 Grand Slams together, including seven Australian Open titles (1982-85, 1987-89), five Wimbledon titles (1981-84, 1986), four US Open titles (1983-84, 1986-87) and four French Open titles (1984-85, 1987-88). She also won the 1987 French Open mixed doubles title with Emilio Sánchez, the US Open with Natasha Zvereva in 1991, in addition to the Olympic gold medal in doubles with Zina Garrison at the 1988 Seoul Summer Games.
‘That is just awesome!!!! Well done the Police!!!’ Navratilova replied to Shriver on X.
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