Canadian tennis star Gabriela Dabrowski revealed that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2024 in a social media post.
Dabrowski, 32, said he slightly delayed some of his treatment so he could complete it at Wimbledon and the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“In the spring of 2023 I felt a lump in my left breast during a self-examination. A few months later, a doctor told me it was nothing and not to worry. So I didn’t do it. Time passed and in spring 2024, I thought that the lump was a little bigger,” Dabrowski wrote on Instagram.
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Gabriela Dabrowski and Felix Auger-Aliassime celebrate after winning the mixed doubles bronze medal during the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games at Stade Roland Garros. (Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports)
“During our full WTA physicals, a WTA doctor told me she wasn’t sure what it was and to go get it scanned… A phone call from the radiologist reading the images, alerting me to a lump that didn’t look like a cyst because of its uneven edges and shadows: ‘It looks ugly and I want you to get a biopsy right away.'”
“The next morning I went to Advent Health Hospital in Wesley Chapel and had a biopsy of my left breast. The preliminary results came back that day: 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.”
Dabrowski said she decided to share her story now because for a long time “I wasn’t ready to expose myself to the potential attention and questions I would have received before.”
The star tennis player wanted to “resolve everything and handle things privately.”
“Fast forward through 2 surgeries at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, recovery, rehab, @patrickdaciek throwing the ball on my serve because my left arm couldn’t get up enough (this was 2 weeks before Nottingham) a slight delay in treatment extra to be being able to compete at Wimbledon and the Olympics, radiation + fatigue (between Toronto and the US Open), and starting endocrine therapy, finishing the season on the highest note possible… it all seems surreal.”
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From left, Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN), Erin Routliffe (NZL), Taylor Townsend (USA) and Katerina Siniakova (CZE) pose with the finalists and championship trophies after the women’s doubles final of the Championships Wimbledon 2024 at the All England Lawn. Tennis and Croquet Club. (Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports)
Despite battling breast cancer, Dabrowski not only competed at Wimbledon and the Olympics, but was very successful.
Dabrowski and her doubles partner Erin Routliffe lost in the final at Wimbledon and at the Paris Olympics she won a bronze medal in the mixed doubles competition for Canada.
“My intentions in sharing part of my experience are to emphasize the quality of life that one can maintain when cancer is detected early, when you have access to doctors and other health professionals highly trained and dedicated to their craft, when you take care of your mental, physical, and spiritual well-being, and when you surround yourself with people who truly have your back (and protect you),” Dabrowski wrote.
“At the beginning of my diagnosis I was afraid that cancer would become part of my identity forever. I don’t feel that way anymore. It’s a privilege to be able to call myself a survivor.”
Dabrowski said his diagnosis gave him the opportunity to see challenges through a different lens, “a lens of gratitude.”
Gabriela Dabrowski and Felix Auger-Aliassime celebrate after winning the mixed doubles bronze medal during the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games at Stade Roland Garros. (Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports)
He ended his post by saying, “To cancer I say screw you, but also thank you.”
Dabrowski won three doubles titles in 2024 and has won 17 career doubles titles.
Dabrowski is also a three-time Olympian, competing at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
