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GABY DABROWSKI
Sport: Tennis
Event: Women’s Doubles
Age: 32
Hometown: Ottawa
Residence: Ottawa/Florida
Third Olympics
Instagram: @gabydabrowski
VIEW GABY’S COMPETITION SCHEDULE HERE.
By Jackson Starr
Gabriela Dabrowski will be returning to the site of her first major triumph when she takes to the court for Paris 2024 in search of the Olympic success that has so far eluded the 32-year-old Ottawa tennis star.
It was on the fabled Roland-Garros clay courts that Dabrowski became the first Canadian woman to win a grand slam title in 2017 when she earned the mixed doubles crown at the French Open.
“I think it shows that if you work hard over the course of a few years, you can achieve your goals,” Dabrowski reflected at the time. “It’s very, very special.”
Having struggled to make a go in her early days as a professional tennis player, Dabrowski’s career has only blossomed since then. She’s been ranked inside the world’s top-10 women’s doubles players since 2018 and currently sits third.
Paris will be Dabrowski’s third appearance for Canada at the Olympics, coming eight years after the first in Rio and seven years since she made history at Roland-Garros.
Dabrowski has won one match across her two Olympic appearances, her first with Eugenie Bouchard to finish ninth at Rio 2016. She lost in the first round of both the mixed doubles with Felix Auger-Alliasime and in women’s doubles with Sharon Fichman at Tokyo.
This time Dabrowski will team up with Leylah Annie Fernandez, who reached the U.S. Open singles final in 2021 at age 19.
Though it will be their Olympic debut as a pair, Fernandez and Dabrowski have competed together in the past, most notably at last year’s Billie Jean King Cup when Canada claimed its first-ever women’s world team championship title.
“It’s a really great moment for us,” Dabrowski said following Canada’s triumph. “I think playing for a country like Canada, we’re all very proud to do so. We come from a really great nation, we have a lot of great backgrounds and ethnicities. And we’re really grateful to have the chance to play on this stage in front of Billie Jean and in front of everyone who’s come.”
Fernandez said in a TV interview earlier in the tournament that Dabrowski makes a great veteran partner.
“She always brings the positive energy,” Fernandez said of playing with Dabrowski. “She’s always there to attack and take it to (the opponent). I knew I had to do the same. I’m just happy that I have a great partner out there that’s able to show me how to do it.”
Dabrowski’s triumph with Team Canada came shortly after she captured her first women’s doubles major championship at the U.S. Open alongside Erin Routliffe, her regular doubles partner who has Canadian roots but represents Australia internationally.
“I can retire happy,” Dabrowski said after she fulfilled a major career goal by winning a grand slam women’s doubles title. “That’s what it means to me. Not now, but at some point, I can retire relieved.”
Dabrowski recently came close to capturing her second career grand slam with Routliffe. They won five matches to reach the Wimbledon final on July 13 in London, when they fell in back-to-back tiebreak sets. But Dabrowski is keen to channel that slew of momentum and strong play into Paris, after the tournament on the other side of the English Channel.
Born and raised in Ottawa, Dabrowski found success in tennis from a young age. She first started playing at age 7 and competed in her first tournament the next year.
“I remember when she was 10 years old and we were running the under-14 provincial championships,” Tony Milo, who coached Dabrowski out of the Ottawa Athletic Club, recounted in an interview with the Ottawa Sports Pages after her French Open crown.
“We thought it would just be a good experience to play against the older girls,” he continued. “I really wasn’t expecting anything. The next thing you know, she made the final of the tournament, and barely lost the final. It was a long three-set match. She was smaller and weaker, but she just grinded her way through.”
That attitude of finding her way through challenges has always been a signature part of Dabrowski’s game, Milo added.
“It’s good old-fashioned hard work,” he underlined. “There are no excuses. She’s a professional every day.”
COMPETITION SCHEDULE:
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