On one of the most crucial points during the first set of their US Open women’s doubles championship match, the color-coordinated duo of Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe — from white visors to white tops to pink skirts and white shoes — showed their inexperience as a team, and did so in the most embarrassing way possible.
An easy overhead was for the taking at 4-4, 40-40, a chance to set up game point, when both Routliffe, coming a couple of steps forward, and Dabrowski, backpedaling from the net, bumped into each other while both went for an overhead smash. While the fluffed shot, which Dabrowski’s racquet contacted, landed in, she and Routliffe eventually lost the point and stared at a break point against.
“We crash into each other and we still made it,” a joking Routliffe said after the match. “It wasn't a great shot, but it obviously went in.”
The gaffe was a footnote — with Dabrowski and Routliffe eventually winning that game — embedded at the bottom of the story with a surprising headline: Dabrowski and Routfille, partners for all of one month, are the 2023 US Open women’s doubles champions.
Along with being unexpected, the win was also historic: Dabrowski became the first Canadian woman to win a women’s doubles title at any Grand Slam event, while Routliffe became the first player representing New Zealand to win a Grand Slam title since Judy Connor-Chaloner won the women’s doubles title at the Australian Open in 1979.
Over the month that the pair have been together, starting with the 1000-level event in Montreal, the two have bonded so well together that, after their first-round win here in Flushing Meadows, Dabrowski invited Routliffe, who was without a clothing sponsor, to wear the same brand of athletic wear that the Canadian was sporting.
From there, the twinsies look was born.
“It’s a New York City brand. It’s a [designer] who’s Canadian … and she believes in sustainable fashion. She gets fabrics made out of recycled water bottles,” Dabrowski told USOpen.org.... “And the garments are cut here in New York in the garment district, which is really cool. Locally manufactured, we love that. And basically before the tournament I asked Erin if she’d be interested in wearing it.”
The pair continued to match and the pair continued to win. Why mess with a good thing?
“After the first round I was like, now we have to be superstitious,” Routliffe said. “It will look cute in photos.”
Their quick-forming kinship really was put through the ringer in the quarterfinals, when the pair were locked in a tussle with the team of sixth-seeded pair of Taylor Townsend and Leylah Fernandez. With the Louis Armstrong Stadium crowd overwhelmingly siding with Townsend and Fernandez, Dabrowski and Routliffe came back from a set down before winning a third-set tiebreak, 10-8, in an emotionally-charged encounter.
“I can’t really describe it. Basically it just felt like everything was against us and we still stuck together and fought through,” Routliffe said. “We took all the confidence in the world out of that.”
Tough matches also worked in tandem with tough conversations the pair needed to have to ensure that the pairing would be more than just a stopgap on their way to possibly finding new partners by the end of 2022.
“I think what's important with a doubles partner, especially ones you’ve known for a really long time and you can have those conversations with, is understanding someone’s love language, in a way, and how they like to best be supported,” said Dabrowski, who’s been to at least one Grand Slam semifinal in four of the past six years. “Erin’s told me some things, and then I’ve tried to be like that for her in tough moments. And I’ve told Erin things and she’s been like that for me in the tough moments. I think having that open dialogue is important because that’s how you get through the toughest times together.”
Routliffe noticed quickly that she and Gabriela were alike in a lot of ways through those conversations, leading her to believe this partnership would pay immediate dividends.
“She’s unapologetically herself. I really admired that,” Routliffe said about Dabrowski. “I think we both have strong personalities, which I think makes it easier to be more honest and direct with each other. She’s always herself and I saw that she was fiery. She wants success and it looked like she [and I] could do a lot of things together.”
Things like winning a Grand Slam after barely a month into their partnership. Yin and yang. Chocolate and vanilla. They’re the perfect match already… including when they get their signals crossed and try to hit the same shot together.
“Yeah, except that one mishap,” Dabrowski said. “I was just really excited she hit a great overhead. She was, like, ‘Mine!’ I was, like, ‘What?’”
See, they’re perfect for each other.
