Canadian tennis champ Gaby Dabrowski opens up about her cancer journey

In a year in which Gaby Dabrowski earned a bronze medal in mixed doubles tennis at the Paris Olympics and became the first Canadian to hoist the women’s doubles year-end championship trophy, the Ottawa native was also facing another challenge: breast cancer.

After keeping her disease private for many months, the 32-year-old recently posted on Instagram that she’d been diagnosed with breast cancer last April, and had surgeries and treatments during her 2024 tennis season. Now she’s opening up more about the experience – about rounds of radiation wedged between summer tournaments, about her doubles partner sticking by her and about what she’s doing to prevent the cancer from coming back.

“I wanted to keep it quiet, because I didn’t really have answers for a long time, and the unknowns were stressful,” Dabrowski told The Globe and Mail, reached in Auckland where she is training with her doubles partner, Erin Routliffe – a New Zealand native – before they begin the 2025 season at the Australian Open in Melbourne next week.

“I’m finally at a place where I hope that my story can help others.”

It all began when Dabrowski found a lump in her left breast during a self-exam in the spring of 2023, and a doctor told her not to worry about it. By the following spring, Dabrowski thought the lump had grown. During her annual WTA physical in Miami last March, a doctor told her to have it scanned.

Dabrowski, who trains in the Tampa area, got a mammogram and an ultrasound in April. The radiologist called to say the lump, with its uneven edges, was concerning. “It looks ugly,” Dabrowski was told. “Get a biopsy immediately.”

She had her left breast biopsied at Advent Health Hospital in Wesley Chapel, Fla., and learned quickly that it was cancer.

Dabrowski had plans to fly to Europe and start clay-court season with Routliffe, but that was suddenly off the table. She had the lump removed in Jacksonville on May 2, and then a second surgery the same month to take out a worrisome spot that remained. She felt lucky that the cancer hadn’t spread to her lymphatic system yet, and that she wouldn’t need chemo.

“It was strange to get this diagnosis, because I’m young, and healthy for the most part, but breast cancer is something that’s affecting women younger and younger,” she said. “Cancer doesn’t discriminate.”

Dabrowski told only a small number of people about her breast cancer – family members, close friends, her coaches and tennis doctors, plus Routliffe.

In addition to the surgeries, she also needed radiation treatments to reduce the risk of cancer returning – but doctors allowed her to delay those until August so she could play at Wimbledon and the Olympics.

The return to training was challenging after the surgeries. At first, Dabrowski needed a coach to toss the ball for her on serves in practice because she couldn’t raise her left arm high enough. She battled fatigue as well. Yet, despite those challenges, she and Routliffe won their first tournament after Dabrowski’s return – a grass court event in Nottingham, U.K. Even then, only a few people knew what she’d been through.

“Winning that tournament, it was an incredibly special moment,” said Dabrowski. “Also the appreciation I had to Erin for waiting for me was really emotional.”

In a sport where doubles partners change up all the time, Routliffe had remained loyal to Dabrowski despite the Canadian’s absence and the uncertainty of how she’d perform when she returned.

The duo went on to make the finals at Eastbourne, also in England, and at Wimbledon.

Then Dabrowski was on to the Paris Olympics in late July. Her childhood dream had been to win an Olympic medal for Canada. There were moments in Paris, in the intense summer heat, when her body didn’t seem up for it. She had a hard time telling whether she was worn down by the normal rigours of tennis, or by fatigue from the surgeries – but she pressed on.

She and Félix Auger-Aliassime fought their way to the mixed doubles bronze medal match. As they won the final point, the teammates embraced, thrilled to make the podium together. In the moment, Auger-Aliassime didn’t know about the breast cancer journey his doubles partner was going through.

After the Olympics, in August, Dabrowski played Toronto’s National Bank Open, not wanting to miss Canada’s only WTA event of the year. She and Routliffe made it all the way to the final, where they lost a gruelling match to Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk.

“It was just such a cool week in Toronto, but also stressful, knowing what was coming the following week,” she said. “The radiation.”

Dabrowski left for Jacksonville early in the morning after the final, and began the radiation at the Mayo Clinic. The five treatments themselves were short and not overly taxing, but the fatigue that followed each was intense. After her final round, she got to ring the bell with the medical staff – a tradition for cancer patients to celebrate finishing treatment.

At the U.S Open later that month, few would have noticed that Dabrowski wore a higher neckline than usual on-court in New York – to protect the chest area above her left breast from the sun’s rays. She and Routliffe made it to the quarter-finals.

Their season was far from over, however. They made the semis in Osaka and Tokyo, then on to their title at the WTA Tour Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It was arguably the duo’s best season together, and they were named the Tour’s doubles team of the year. Dabrowski was also named Tennis Canada’s female player of the year.

Because of the specific kind of breast cancer Dabrowski had, she’ll receive five years of endocrine therapy, which prevents estrogen from binding in her body and helping cancer cells grow.

During breast cancer awareness month last October, as Dabrowski heard the stories of other survivors, she started itching to share her experience. She wanted other women to know it’s beatable if they detect it early. She began jotting down her thoughts.

When she finally posted them on Instagram last week, people were shocked to learn what she’s been through, and the post drew over 9,000 likes. There were hundreds of comments, including from tennis players like Coco Gauff, Ons Jabeur, Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula.

“You are so effin strong Gaby,” Pegula wrote. “Floored by this post.”

Auger-Aliassime replied also: “Amazing story Gaby. Such strength of character and perseverance.”

Dabrowski’s six-month mammogram was all clear in late November. The whole experience has made her appreciate her tennis career more fully, and she’s grateful to her friends that travelled to support her in those big moments on court. The ordeal has also shown her what she’s made of.

“As a tennis player, you work on becoming mentally tough and handling the adversity that comes with playing at professional sport, but this was next level, needing to tap into a deeper inner strength,” Dabrowski said. “I discovered that was within me. I want people to know that you have it within you, too. Even something that seems as scary or dark as cancer – you can handle it.”