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Q&A with Pam Shriver and George Lazenby The 40-year-old ESPN tennis analyst, and five-time Wimbledon doubles champ, wed the 63-year-old onetime James Bond (On Her Majesty's Secret Service) last year.Posted: Monday June 30, 2003 12:23 PM
 SI: Three years ago friends introduced you at the players' restaurant at Wimbledon. How did it go?
Lazenby: The sorry story is, I couldn't get a date at the time. Pam was just standing there, and this guy pointed at her. So I went for it. SI: Have you ever slipped and called him James? Shriver: No. Lazenby: But a lot of other girls have. (Laughs.) SI: You're both golf fanatics. Do you play each other? Lazenby: Yeah, we do. But I'm not as serious about golf as Pam is. Shriver: Yeah, right. He plays every day, but he's not serious about it. Lazenby: But I don't take it so seriously. I mean, Pam has got this professionalism in her blood. Shriver: Yeah, I get into the competitive mode a lot easier. I'm a seven handicap. George is about a nine. SI: You and Martina Navratilova won 79 doubles titles, including 20 Grand Slam events. Are you comfortable saying you two were the best doubles team of all time? Shriver: Yes, I am. Lazenby: So am I. (Laughs.) SI: In her prime, how does Martina do against Serena? Shriver: Martina wins because she's tactically sounder from all parts of the court. Martina's lefthandedness, her ability to handle pace and her volleys would carry her through. SI: George, you hadn't seen a Bond movie since 1969 before attending the Die Another Day premiere last November in London. Why did you break your embargo? Lazenby: Well, I thought I might get a knighthood out of it. They knighted those other two Bonds, so I thought, Geez, I might have a chance. SI: You live just around the block from Kobe Bryant in L.A. Ever see him strolling with his baby daughter? Shriver: No, but we've seen him drive up in his car. Lazenby:Yeah, it was a Bentley convertible -- and it was a little out of my small-change range. SI: Do you ever play tennis against one another? Lazenby: Don't ask. Shriver: George is looking to win his first game. But he did get to 30-15 once on his serve. SI: George, at one point in the 1960s you lived in Keith Moon's Virginia Water home in England. How long would Pam have lasted in that house? Lazenby: The one with the hovercraft coming through the door in the middle of the night? I'd say five minutes. Shriver: Agreed. SI: Could you ever have imagined becoming a Bond Girl at the age of 40? Shriver: I could not. Lazenby: But I could. SI: When is the last time either of you had a freshly shaken vodka martini? Shriver Never. Lazenby: Me, also. Shriver: Now, if you want to know about a freshly shaken beer... Lazenby: I'm having one right now, actually. SI: Which is the cooler older man-younger woman celebrity couple -- you guys or Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart? Lazenby: Who's Harrison Ford? Shriver: And who's Calista Flockhart? SI: Who will win Wimbledon? Shriver: James ... Blake.
SI Shriver: Not at thing. Lazenby: I just remember this tall woman standing there, so I went to say something to her and she steered herself in another direction. And probably rightly so. It was late at night and I imagine I had had a few by then, and I was going to tell her some things that she probably had never heard before. SI: So how does George look in a tuxedo these days? Shriver: There's only one place he looks better. --Richard Deitsch Issue date: June 30, 2003
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