Source: Radio New Zealand
Erin Routliffe of New Zealand celebrates with partner Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada after winning the 2025 US Open doubles title. MATTHEW STOCKMAN / AFP
Their partnership may have come to an end but Erin Routliffe said she has a friend for life in Gaby Dabrowski.
The pair announced their split earlier this week following the season ending WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia.
During their time together Kiwi Routliffe and Canadian Dabrowski won seven titles including two US Open crowns and the WTA Finals title in 2024.
They first played together in 2023 and soon afterwards won their first title at Flushing Meadows.
Dabrowski was already an established doubles player and had previously won Australian and French Open mixed doubles titles, while Routliffe was still climbing the doubles rankings.
“I’m so grateful to her for taking a chance on me at the beginning of our partnership when I was not ranked anywhere near where she was,” Routliffe told RNZ.
“I’ll have a friend for life and even though our business partnership is ending it changed my life completely.
“I’m really happy with the time we had together and we will spend time together on tour, just not as business partners.”
Doubles combinations don’t tend to last particularly long and Routliffe is delighted she and Dabrowski managed to succeed in their two and a half years together.
“It happens all the time in doubles, business partnerships end, so we both knew it had ended and we’re really grateful for it happening.
“We lasted a really long time while a lot of people barely last a month or two.
“When you’re playing doubles and you’re with them every single day and have a business together a lot of times nothing really happens, it’s just time for it to end.”
Erin Routliffe of New Zealand celebrates with partner Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada after winning the 2025 US Open doubles title. MATTHEW STOCKMAN / AFP
Routliffe intends to play the ASB Classic in Auckland in the new year but is yet to announce who her doubles partner will be in 2026.
“We’re excited to play with other people now.”
This week Routliffe is playing for New Zealand in the Billie Jean King play-offs in Poland where they take on Poland and Romania.
The Kiwi team of Routliffe, Vivian Yang, Elyse Tse and Jade Otway are the underdogs in their group, but Routliffe, who will play doubles at the teams event, said they’re excited.
“Billie Jean King Cup is a week where you see different results every year where people show up and don’t show up on different days and so we’ll do everything in our power to put up a fight and go down swinging.”
The Polish team includes world number two Iga Swiatek.
Routliffe lived the first four years of her life in New Zealand before moving to her parents’ homeland of Canada. She switched her allegiance to New Zealand in 2017.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
