Wimbledon finalist Gabriela Dabrowski has heartbreakingly revealed she played the entire 2024 season while receiving emergency treatment for breast cancer.
The 32-year-old Canadian had kept her diagnosis a secret in April, but detailed the battle she has endured in a lengthy Instagram post.
Dabrowski said: “I know this will come as a shock to many, but I am doing well and will be fine. Early detection saves lives.’
After first finding a lump in the spring of 2023, which she was told she had nothing to worry about, she had a scan a year later and was told she had cancer.
Dabrowski did not play a match in April and May, but returned in June and won her first tournament back with partner Erin Routliffe in Nottingham.
She delayed treatment to compete at Wimbledon, where she and Routliffe finished second, and at the Olympics, while the pair ended the season by winning the WTA Finals, leaving Dabrowski ranked third in the world.
Gabriela Dabrowski (right) has revealed she is secretly battling breast cancer this year
The tennis star, currently number 3 in the world in doubles, announced the news on Instagram
In Paris in August, Dabrowski walked away from the Olympics with a bronze medal after playing alongside Felix Auger-Aliassime in the mixed doubles.
The Canadian duo defeated their Dutch rivals in straight sets to secure a medal, and Dabrowski described the fortnight at the time as the ‘experience of a lifetime’.
“It all seems surreal,” she wrote. ‘Why am I sharing my story now? For a long time, I wasn’t ready to expose myself to the possible attention and questions I had received before.
‘I wanted to sort everything out and handle things privately, with only those closest to me knowing.
Dabrowski (right) and her partner Erin Routliffe recently won the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia
Dabrowski also won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, playing in mixed doubles
‘There were so many unknowns and so much still needed to be learned and researched. Currently I am in a place where I have a better understanding of my treatment, its side effects and how to manage them.
‘My intentions in sharing some of my experiences are to highlight the quality of life you can maintain if cancer is detected early, if you have access to doctors and other healthcare providers who are highly skilled and dedicated to their profession, if you take care of your mental, physical, and spiritual well-being, and when you surround yourself with people who truly have your back (and your front).”
Dabrowski and her doubles partner Routliffe are expected to compete at the upcoming Australian Open in January, where they are likely to be seeded third.