For Gabriela Dabrowski, winning is still great, but that’s not all and ultimately the past.
Swing rackets have had new significance since last year’s battle with cancer.
“Tennis really feels like it’s no longer the first thing in life,” Dabrovsky said. “If I’m taken tomorrow? Yes, I’ll be sad. But if I’m healthy, then for me, it’s really important.
“There is a bigger problem in life than winning tennis.”
The 33-year-old Ottawa-based two-stars underwent two surgeries to treat breast cancer last December after a diagnosis in April.
At the Paris Olympics last summer, Dabrovsky had only a few close friends and family aware of her fight and won a bronze medal in mixed doubles in Canada with Felix Auger-Aliassime and won the WTA final with her long-time partner Erin Routliffe.
When she came back from the operation, every serve and volley was like a reward.
“Everything is like, ‘Wow, it’s different from what I used to feel like, like, ‘Don’t waste any potential, maximise the sport, do your best,” Dabrovski said in a video interview in Ottawa. “Now I’m going to do my best because I want it, not because I have to do it, and it’s a huge shift for me.
“Even if the losses are hurt, they absolutely haven’t been hurt like they used to, which is great. Winning still feels good and being able to share them with people around them is the best feeling because we’ve been through a lot. I know I’ve been through a lot, but they’ve been through a lot, too.”
New Zealand’s Dabrowski and Routliffe won the 2023 U.S. Open and reached last year’s Wimbledon final.
They will be one of the top seeds in the National Bank Open Women’s Tag Team Championship, starting Sunday, the first move by No. 8 Dabrowski on the land since the opening story was launched.
Dabrowski still manages side effects with radiation, surgery and long-term hormone therapy, but thanks to her medical team’s diet, sleep, train and recovery methods keep her at her best.
Plan ahead to get better recovery from Jet Lag, another adjustment for her hard, heavy travel tour.
The season was particularly tough as Dabrovsky struggled with a rib injury since February, a disease that forced her to leave the court even more than a cancer diagnosis a year ago.
She and Routliffe won the Stuttgart Open in April, but Dabrowski later quit several games, including the French Open in May, before returning to Wimbledon in time.
In this case, the second seed couple “better than expected” and lost to ultimate champions Elise Mertens and Veronika Kudermetova in the tense quarterfinals.
“I’m proud of my past few months considering what I’ve been through,” Dabrovski said, who said she’s about 80% of her playing ability. “It is indeed trying to balance the rehabilitation ingredients with continuing to increase the number of stadiums and courts, but not doing much, I might be hindering the final type of rehabilitation phase.
“I feel like even if I might not be ready to go to the National Bank Open, I still have a week to get more training in the tank and then maybe have some practice competitions with Erin… She would be a good fit and she could carry me with me. Very good.”
Dabrowski hopes to work with the Helix Mixed Championship at the U.S. Open in August, though she isn’t sure she’ll have a chance. They are one of the 25 teams on the entry list, although only 16 will compete.
Most of the top stars in tennis, including Aryna Sabalenka, Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, also participated in the team for improved matches, which will be held before the singles action and receive a $1 million prize.
Eight teams with the best singles ranking will automatically qualify, and USTA will choose the next eight-on-double duo, which means some doubles experts, such as Dabrowski, can turn them out.
“This makes itself fit into the definition of the exhibition,” Dabrovsky said of the format. “I like that they obviously added bonuses, which I think is amazing. But, at the same time, if you don’t have any top tag team players, then I don’t think it should be called a hybrid tag team champion, you should win a trophy title in the Grand Slam.”
