Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski revealed she was suffering from breast cancer when she won the mixed doubles tennis bronze medal at the Paris Olympics last summer.
“How can something so small create such a big problem?“, the 32-year-old player asked on her Instagram account on Tuesday. She was associated in Paris with her compatriot Felix Auger-Aliassime. “I'm doing well“, she assured. “Early detection saves lives and I can only encourage it“.
Dabrowski said she discovered a cyst during a self-examination in 2023, but was told at the time it was too small to be cause for concern. Except that a year later, the cyst had grown, and a biopsy established a cancerous diagnosis.
“These are words you never expect to hear and this is the moment when your life and that of your loved ones are turned upside down“, said Dabrowski, who also won the United States Open in doubles in 2023, the Australian Open in mixed doubles in 2018 as well as Roland-Garros in the same category in 2017.
She has been treating the disease for several months
She underwent two surgeries then radiotherapy in 2024 before postponing her treatment while playing at Wimbledon, where she was a doubles finalist with New Zealand's Erin Routliffe, then the Olympic Games. She also won, again with Routliffe, the Masters doubles in Riyadh at the end of the year.
The Canadian stressed that she waited to make her illness public so that she could face it.privately with only those closest to me“. “When I saw myself in danger of losing everything I had worked for my whole life, I began to appreciate everything I had“, confided Dabrowski. “With this perspective, I discovered that it was much easier to find joy in life activities that used to be a burden.“.
She indicated that she received support during this event from other players on the WTA circuit such as the Americans Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula as well as her partner Erin Routliffe.
Félix Auger-Aliassime and Gabriela Dabrowski in Paris, summer 2024.
Credit: Getty Images
