US OPEN

September 5, 2025

Gabriela Dabrowski

Erin Routliffe

Press Conference

DABROWSKI-ROUTLIFFE/Siniakova-Townsend

6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Ladies, first of all, congratulations. If you could, just your thoughts on the level of play in the championship match.

GABRIELA DABROWSKI: Thank you. The level of play I thought was really high. I thought it was really high in our semifinal the other night against Errani-Paolini, an amazing team.

It had been to be high. It had been to be high then. It had been to be high today. That's the level of women's doubles that we're seeing right now with these amazing players, and really privileged to be a part of that conversation.

THE MODERATOR: Would you like to add something?

ERIN ROUTLIFFE: No, no. I think, yeah, obviously if you're going to win a slam, it has to be really high. I think they're an amazing team. They've had an incredible year, so we knew that we had to bring it today. I think we did a pretty good job of that.

THE MODERATOR: Well, congratulations, once again, Champions. Questions.

Q. Given what both of you have been through I guess over the last 18 months, what does it feel like to hoist this, given -- I mean, you've stuck together through all the things you've been through on and off the court, but just take us through what the last 18 months has been and what this feels like today.

GABRIELA DABROWSKI: Yeah, wild ride. Cancer, broken ribs for both of us. It was crazy, honestly.

I'm really proud of us. It was not easy, but I think we've shown that even if we don't have a consistent schedule like the other teams have, we can still bring a really high level, which is awesome. I think that's a testament to our work ethic and everything that we put in on court, off the court, with each other as friends too to, you know, keep the chemistry going.

I think it's all culminated kind of into this moment. Yeah, I mean, I felt already really proud of us, I would say, at the end of last year in Riyadh, winning the WTA Finals. That kind of felt similar today, similar vibe.

We have so many of our loved ones here today, and our coaching team has been phenomenal. To share it with everyone is just so special.

Q. Erin, your Canadianness tends to get overlooked in this partnership. Not by me, as you know. I wonder if you could expand a little bit on the fact that you really are kind of an all-Canadian team and what a great accomplishment that is?

ERIN ROUTLIFFE: Yeah. I think -- yeah, obviously very Canadian.

GABRIELA DABROWSKI: She's more Canadian than me.

ERIN ROUTLIFFE: Gaby always says that. Playing for New Zealand, I'm so grateful for that, and it means a lot to me, but obviously there's the two, like, Kiwi-Canadian. That's who I am. To have a Canadian team win a slam or two slams is pretty phenomenal.

Yeah, it means a lot. Obviously grew up -- that's where I went to school. That's where my parents are from. That's where I grew up. It means a lot to me.

Yeah, I wish that people talked more about the dual citizenship that people have, because there's so many people on tour that are like me, like they have two countries that they represent.

GABRIELA DABROWSKI: I'm also, yeah. Polish passport, yeah.

ERIN ROUTLIFFE: So it's not a rare thing, but people don't really talk about it. They just see the one flag, and they talk about it.

No, I'm super grateful. You know, if I wasn't Canadian, then Gaby and I would have probably never played together. It's amazing, yeah. I'm really happy.

Q. Just wondered how the win today feels compared to the win here a couple of years ago, your first tournament together? Does it somehow feel sweeter?

GABRIELA DABROWSKI: I mean, both are very sweet in different ways. I would say in that first slam that we played together, we were more of a surprise team I think for other players and other teams on tour, and I think we kind of leaned into that and we took advantage of that.

I think the fact that people didn't maybe know our partnership together so well helped us win a couple of really close matches, and I think also just having no expectations whatsoever because we were a new partnership.

Now, over the years, I think we've proven how strong we are as a team and as individual players. Even when I've been away from the tour, Erin has been winning titles with other partners, so it's a testament to her level.

So I think the fact that this win comes two years after our first one is just different in the sense that we've put in a lot of work behind the scenes, and that's reflected in a great result. But we do really well sticking to our process and trying to not focus too much on the result and to just really get better as athletes.

So I'm actually most proud of that, that two years on we are still able to achieve the same thing with a little bit of a different mindset.

Q. Erin has had the No. 1 ranking before. Is either No. 1 as a team or individually No. 1 maybe at the end of the year, is that something that you guys can envision or imagine, talk about, work towards?

ERIN ROUTLIFFE: Yeah, I think as a partnership, we always said we wanted to be multiple Grand Slam champions and then No. 1 team in the world. So, yeah, I think winning Riyadh last year, that was really cool to kind of get that and secure that. Then, obviously winning today was now we're multiple Grand Slam champions, so we've got that goal checked off together.

Yeah, I think that it's definitely something that we talk about, and we both have the same goal together to do that. So yeah.

GABRIELA DABROWSKI: Yeah, I think we have high standards, so we want to be the best, but I think we also recognize that to be the best, you can't always focus on, like, being the best, because then you feel too much pressure.

So we try to remind each other a lot about having fun, enjoying the moment, you know, giving each other permission to miss and stay committed to our intention.

So we talk a lot about that, I think, which is important, and then why we've also done so well.

Q. This all-Canadian or British Commonwealth --

ERIN ROUTLIFFE: British Commonwealth is a good one.

Q. Gaby and Erin, you are all-time best. Gaby is, in the Open Era, the most successful female Canadian Grand Slam champion.

ERIN ROUTLIFFE: Hell, ya.

Q. Erin, as all-time New Zealand champion. Better than Onny Parun, Judy Connor, and Michael Venus. What does it mean to you, and who are your heroes where you look up, as New Zealander or as Canadian in the history, in the tennis history?

ERIN ROUTLIFFE: Oh, wow.

GABRIELA DABROWSKI: Wow, good question.

ERIN ROUTLIFFE: That's a really tough question (laughing).

GABRIELA DABROWSKI: That's tough, yeah. If you can think of someone, go for it.

ERIN ROUTLIFFE: No, I can't really. We're trying to make history together, I feel like, so we're trying to do that.

I mean, there's obviously players we look up to.

GABRIELA DABROWSKI: I feel like it's less of a patriotic thing than it is just quality of tennis across the board, you know? We see players doing well. We're inspired by them. It doesn't really matter where they're from.

Obviously it's a bonus if they're Canadian or Kiwi or Polish or whoever, but yeah, I think it's less about where they're from and more about the quality of tennis that they're bringing that forces our level to rise as well.

Q. You guys did the on-court, mid-match interview thing again. I don't think you have even been asked about that too much. They tried it ten years ago.

ERIN ROUTLIFFE: Oh, did they?

Q. Once. It was CoCo Vandeweghe, and Pam Shriver did the interview with her after the first set. Then it never happened again, because everybody was... So how did it come up? Why did you agree to it? Was it weird? Did you enjoy it?

ERIN ROUTLIFFE: Is it for doubles or -- yeah. It's to try and get more eyes on doubles, which we're all for, obviously. I think we're for the interview.

I think it's awesome. I think that for fans to hear the way that we're thinking after a first set is really cool, and to kind of get an inside look to our brains when we're playing is really cool. It will get more eyes on doubles.

We always said that we would do it, because there's no -- I don't think there's a negative to it. I think there's only positives. So I think a couple of days ago -- my semi one, I was, like, Oh, my gosh, that was terrible. She literally asked me about my, like, game plan.

I said, Yeah, we stuck to our game plan. I panicked (laughter).

I told Rennae, Okay, ask me again, and I'll do better. I'm going to improve.

So today was a little bit better. I don't know if anyone could hear, the fans or whatever, but mine was a little bit better today. It's kind of fun, honestly.

If it gets eyes on doubles, it's exactly what we want, and that's our goal. I was totally into it, and I think Gaby too.

Q. If you lost the first set, would you still have done it?

ERIN ROUTLIFFE: No, it's only for winners.

GABRIELA DABROWSKI: It's only for the set winner.