MONTREAL: Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski revealed Tuesday that her run to Olympic tennis bronze in Paris came as she received treatment for breast cancer.
“How can something so small cause such a big problem? This is the question I asked myself when I was diagnosed with breast cancer back in mid-April,” the 32-year-old doubles specialist wrote on Instagram.
“I know this will come as a shock to many, but I am okay and I will be okay. Early detection saves lives. I can wholeheartedly agree with this.”
Dabrowski said she discovered a lump in her left breast during a 2023 self-exam, but at that time was told its size meant there was no cause for concern.
A year later it was larger and she underwent a biopsy and received the diagnosis.
“Those are words you never expect to hear, and in an instant your life or the life of a loved one turns upside down,” said Dabrowski, who won the 2023 US Open women’s doubles title, the 2018 Australian Open mixed-doubles title and the 2017 French Open mixed-doubles title.
Dabrowski said her “surreal” second half of the 2024 season included two surgeries and radiotherapy, before slightly delaying further treatment to compete at Wimbledon and the Olympics.
She teamed up with New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe to finish runners-up at Wimbledon and won mixed-doubles bronze in Paris with Felix Auger-Aliassime.
She and Routliffe won the doubles crown at the season-ending WTA Tour Finals in Riyadh.
Dabrowski said she waited to share her story because she “wanted to figure everything out and handle things privately with only those closest to me in the loop.”
Now, she says, her perspective on her tennis career and life has changed.
“When the threat of losing everything I’d worked for my entire life became a real possibility, only then did I begin to authentically appreciate what I had,” she said.
“My mindset shifted from ‘I have to do this’ to ‘I get to do this.’
“Through this lens I find it so much easier to find joy in areas of my life I previously viewed as a heavy weight.”
Dabrowski’s post was met with an outpouring of support from WTA colleagues, including Americans Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, Pegula calling her “effing strong.”
Routliffe said she was “lucky” to be by Dabrowski’s side through it all.
“Here’s to more smiling in 2025,” Routliffe said.