Aus Open 2025: Gabriela Dabrowski reveals her battle with breast cancer

Canadian tennis star Gabriela Dabrowski says she’s been floored by the response of fans, as she makes her way back from battling breast cancer in 2024, to winning matches at the Australian Open.

Gaby Dabrowski was riddled with questions when the doctor delivered the word “cancer”.

But the response to sharing her breast cancer journey has floored the Canadian doubles player, opening up on the inspiration she drew from other survivors in her bid to continue on the court.

Dabrowski and her partner Erin Routliffe fought back – much like the player herself – from a set down on Wednesday, and 0-3 in the third set, to defeat Americans Danielle Collins and Desirae Krawczyk to progress to the second round.

And she said the outpouring of support – from the public, and fellow players in the locker room at Melbourne Park – had been astounding.

“I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect,” Dabrowski said on Wednesday.

“The reaction has been really positive so far. My intention is to just get the message out there that early detection is super important and to not hesitate if you’re not sure what something is.

“Like, definitely push for a follow-up because it’s better to get something taken care of sooner rather than later. Especially when it comes to something like cancer.”

She first found the lump in her left breast at the beginning of 2023, Dabrowski – who had initially opted to keep her fight private – revealed on social media just a few weeks ago.

A doctor said it was nothing. Not to worry.

But by early 2024, the lump had grown, with a WTA doctor recommending a scan.

First came a mammogram, then an ultrasound, and a call from a radiologist ordering a biopsy.

The results came back the same day. It was cancer.

“These are words you never expect to hear, and in an instant your life, or the life of a loved one turns upside down,” she wrote at the time.

Two surgeries, recovery, rehabilitation.

And tennis.

Dabrowski advanced in the doubles on Wednesday. Picture: Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images

She made the women’s doubles final at Wimbledon. Won bronze at a little event called the Olympic Games, alongside fellow Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Radiation followed, and “fatigue”, she said, endocrine therapy and becoming the first Canadian woman to win a WTA Finals doubles title with Routliffe.

There were so many unknowns, which Dabrowski said was behind keeping her fight within her inner circle until now. She was “afraid of cancer becoming a part of my identity forever”.

Now, it’s about more than just her. It’s about “something much bigger than myself”.

It had its moments, she admits, when even competing had seemed impossible.

“Especially in the beginning I didn’t know what the diagnosis would be exactly, what the prognosis would be. I wasn’t sure how long I would need to be out. There were a lot of questions,” the Canadian said.

“Meeting some other survivors early on that had been through worse than me or were going to go – or had been through probably the worst side of cancer and had come out the other side and ran triathlons or marathons and you are, like, ‘Whoa, okay’.

Dabrowski battled breast cancer in 2024. Picture: Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images

“Meeting people that had accomplished those kinds of physical feats really reassured me that this was something that I was going to be able to get through.

“I just hope that I could be, maybe, that person for someone else one day to let them know that they’re going to be OK and that they can still achieve all the things they want to achieve and that, yes, it’s a process and it can be a long journey for many, but there is like a light at the end of the tunnel.

“I know in some cases there’s not a light at the end of the tunnel, but knowing that you are going to be OK and that your family is going to be OK and people around you, you know, just get to spend the best time with you for whatever you have left as well because I know that sometimes you don’t make it through.”

The day will come when she’ll share “more details about things that I ate and how I managed my sleep”, and managing symptoms on endocrine therapy.

For now, there’s the little matter of the Australian Open.

“It was definitely a really tough first round to have to raise our level that high straight off the bat at a Grand Slam and obviously our first tournament of the year as well. Not easy,” Dabrowski said.

“But proud of how we came through. We battled. We found solutions. And yeah, really happy to have won that one because it would have been easy to have not.”

Originally published as Aus Open 2025: Gabriela Dabrowski reveals her battle with breast cancer