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Winning still feels great for Gabriela Dabrowski, but it’s not the be-all and end-all like it used to be.
Ever since her battle with cancer last year, swinging a tennis racket has taken on a new meaning.
“Tennis really feels like it’s not the No. 1 thing in life anymore,” Dabrowski said. “If it was taken away from me tomorrow? Yeah, I would be sad. But if I’m healthy, then to me, that’s all that really matters.
“There are bigger problems in life than winning a tennis match.”
Last December, the 33-year-old doubles star from Ottawa revealed months after the fact that she had undergone two surgeries to treat breast cancer following a diagnosis in April.
With only a few close friends and family aware of her fight, Dabrowski captured a mixed doubles bronze medal for Canada alongside Felix Auger-Aliassime at last summer’s Paris Olympics and claimed the WTA Finals title with her longtime partner, Erin Routliffe.
When she returned from her surgeries, every serve and volley felt like a bonus.
“Everything was like, ‘Wow, this is such a different feel than what I’ve had in the past, which was like, ‘Don’t waste any potential you have, maximize the sport, do the best you can,’” Dabrowski said in a video interview from Ottawa, where she received the key to the city Thursday. “Now I’m doing the best I can because I want to, not because I have to, and that was a huge shift for me.
“Even though losses hurt, they definitely don’t hurt as much as before, which is nice. And wins still feel great, and being able to share them with the people around me is the best feeling, because we have been through a lot. I know I went through a lot, but they went through a lot, too.”
Dabrowski and Routliffe, of New Zealand, won the 2023 US Open and reached last year’s Wimbledon final.
They’ll be among the top seeds in the National Bank Open’s women’s doubles tournament, beginning Sunday in Montreal, marking the No. 8-ranked Dabrowski’s first action on home soil since going public with her story.
Dabrowski still manages side effects from radiation, surgery and long-term hormone therapy, but credits her medical team for keeping her in top shape with how she eats, sleeps, trains and recovers.
Planning ahead to better recuperate from jet lag, which “hits me harder than it used to,” is another adjustment she’s making on the gruelling, travel-heavy circuit.
This season has been especially tough because Dabrowski has struggled with a rib injury since February, an ailment that has forced her off the court more than the cancer diagnosis a year ago.
She and Routliffe won the Stuttgart Open in April, but Dabrowski later withdrew from several tournaments, including the French Open in May, before returning to action in time for Wimbledon.
The second-seeded pair “did better than expected” under the circumstances, losing to eventual champions Elise Mertens and Veronika Kudermetova in a tight quarterfinal match.
“I’m proud of my last couple of months, considering what I went through,” said Dabrowski, who said she’s playing at roughly 80 per cent capacity. “Really trying to balance the healing component with continuing to increase volume in the gym and on the court, but without doing too much to where I might impede that last sort of stage of healing.
“I feel like even though I’m probably not at my most prepared going into National Bank Open, I still have a week to get more training in the tank, and then maybe some practice matches with Erin … she’ll be match fit and she can carry me. It’s fine.”
Reunited with Felix?
Dabrowski is hoping to team up with Auger-Aliassime in the US Open mixed doubles tournament in August, although she’s not certain she’ll get the chance. They are among 25 teams on the entry list, though only 16 will play.
Most of the top stars in tennis — including Aryna Sabalenka, Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner — have also entered teams into the revamped tournament, which will take place before singles action and feature a US$1-million prize.
The eight teams with the best combined singles rankings will automatically qualify, and the USTA will select the next eight duos, meaning some doubles specialists, like Dabrowski, could be shut out of the doubles event.
“That lends itself to a definition of exhibition,” Dabrowski said of the format. “I love that they’ve obviously increased prize money and all that, I think that’s amazing. But at the same time, if you don’t have any top doubles players in that draw, I don’t think that it should be called a mixed doubles championship and you should win a Grand Slam trophy winning that event.”