Canadian doubles star Gabriela Dabrowski made history in November when she became the first Canadian to win the WTA Finals alongside her partner, New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe.
It came just a few months after the Ottawa’s native captured a mixed doubles bronze at the Paris 2024 Olympics with Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal.
But what no one knew was that Dabrowski accomplished all of this while battling breast cancer, a diagnosis she received in mid-April.
The 32-year-old shared her diagnosis for the first time on Tuesday in an Instagram post, with the hope of emphasizing the life you can continue to live if the illness is detected early.
“I know this will come as a shock to many, but I am okay and I will be okay,” Dabrowski wrote in the post. “Early detection saves lives. I can wholeheartedly agree with this.”
Dabrowski was named Tennis Canada’s women’s doubles player of the year for 2024. Ranked third in the world in doubles, her season culminated with the historic WTA Finals win in Saudi Arabia in November.
WATCH | Dabrowski reflects on historic year:
CBC Sports’ Brittany MacLean chats with Gabriela Dabrowski about her historic 2024 season, including becoming the first Canadian to win the WTA Finals, earning Olympic bronze in mixed doubles, and her journey as a tennis trailblazer.
As she reached new heights in her tennis career, Dabrowski wrote that her cancer diagnosis helped her see things in a new light, including her friends and family, the game she loves, and even the chance to play with Routliffe.
“If you saw me smiling more on court in the past six months, it was genuine,” she wrote.
“A great reminder that you have no idea what people are going through,” Routliffe wrote about her doubles partner on Instagram on Tuesday. “Here’s to more smiling in 2025.”
Olympic medal ‘a childhood dream come true’
Dabrowski wrote that she first discovered a lump in her left breast during a self-exam in the spring of 2023. A doctor told her not to worry about it.
But by spring 2024, when Dabrowski felt the lump had grown, another doctor who examined her during a WTA physical urged her to get scanned.
Dabrowski had a mammogram and an ultrasound, and a radiologist recommended an immediate biopsy, feeling that the lump wasn’t just a cyst.
The biopsy happened in Florida the next day, followed that same day by the diagnosis.
“These are words you never expect to hear, and in an instant your life or the life of a loved one turns upside down,” Dabrowski wrote.
The next few months included two surgeries, recovery, and rehab, all of which left her unable to raise her left arm high enough to serve.
Further treatment was slightly delayed to compete at Wimbledon, where she reached the finals, and the Olympics, where she brought home a medal at her third Games.
Winning an Olympic medal was “a childhood dream that had come true,” Dabrowski told CBC Sports’ Brittany MacLean in December.
“I grew up watching the Olympics and it was a huge part of our family. There was a big emphasis on respecting athletes in sport and all the sacrifices they make. I felt like the Olympics was kind of like the culmination of a lot of blood, sweat and tears over many, many years.”
But the year-end finals with Routliffe was extra special because of the happiness the two shared, both on and off the court, she said.
The importance of early detection
Dabrowski said she wasn’t ready before to expose herself to the questions and attention her diagnosis would prompt, preferring to navigate it privately.
But she ultimately decided sharing her story could help others. During October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, she found herself wanting to share posts about the importance of early detection.
“My intentions in sharing some of my experience are to emphasize the quality of life one can maintain when cancer is detected early, when you have access to doctors and other health care practitioners who are highly skilled and dedicated to their craft.”
Now, Dabrowski said she has a better grasp on her treatment, the side effects and how to manage them.
“Early on in my diagnosis I was afraid of cancer becoming part of my identity forever. I don’t feel that way anymore. It is a privilege to be able to call myself a survivor.”
