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.
Canada’s Dabrowski reveals cancer treatment amid run to Olympic bronze
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Canada’s Dabrowski reveals cancer treatment amid run to Olympic bronze
- Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski revealed Tuesday that her run to Olympic tennis bronze in Paris came as she received treatment for breast cancer
Footballers and human rights leaders call on UEFA president to suspend Israel from European football
Footballers and human rights leaders call on UEFA president to suspend Israel from European football
- Signatories argue that no shared venue, stage, or arena in international civil society should welcome a regime that commits genocide
- Signatories address Aleksander Ceferin directly with his own words on football, Football belongs to everyone
LONDON: Athletes 4 Peace, a group of 70 plus athletes, co-signed a letter to UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin with #GameOverIsrael, the Gaza Tribunal and the Hind Rajab Foundation demanding that he follow through on the legal and moral responsibilities inherent in his role and immediately suspend Israel from European football.
The signatories argue, “No shared venue, stage, or arena in international civil society should welcome a regime that commits genocide, apartheid, and other crimes against humanity. Israel’s continued impunity for such crimes will only be ended by the weight of collective conscientious action, including measures to block their entry to sporting or cultural events and activities.”
They address Aleksander Ceferin directly with his own words on football, “Football belongs to everyone” and warn that he risks severing football from its heart and soul – humanity – by allowing those who would destroy their own humanity and that of others entry into the sport.
International Human Rights Lawyers and former UN Human Rights Director Craig Mokhiber said: “UEFA action is stalled behind the smokescreen of a fake ‘ceasefire’ and sham ‘peace process.’ But neither the genocide nor apartheid have ended. UEFA must correct their course immediately and suspend Israel from European football. With each passing day, UEFA’s complicity grows.”
Former Adviser to the Middle East Peace Envoy and Campaign Director for Game Over Israel Ashish Prashar added: “For President Ceferin to pause his vote to suspend Israel from European football over a peace plan in name only, is either grossly naive, or purposefully blind.”
#GameOverIsrael was launched on September 16 with a billboard in Times Square, calling on football federations to boycott Israel.
Athletes 4 Peace are a united voice of sports professionals from around the world, standing for justice, fairness, and humanity in sport.
Gaza Tribunal is a consortium of humanitarian law and human rights experts whose aim it is to awaken civil society to its responsibility and opportunity to stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
The Hind Rajab Foundation is a branch of the March 30 Movement mainly dedicated to the quest for justice in response to the crimes against humanity, war crimes and human rights violations perpetrated by the Israeli state against Palestinians. Established during the ongoing Gaza genocide, the foundation honors the memory of Hind Rajab and all those who have perished or suffered under the Israeli genocidal campaign.
