Routliffe reunited with Dabrowski for Wimbledon

Otago Daily Times

2 days ago

Erin Routliffe (right) and Gabriela Dabrowski at this year's Australian Open.
New Zealand tennis player Erin Routliffe has had a far from ideal lead-up to Wimbledon.
With regular doubles player Gaby Dabrowski out of action, Routliffe played tournaments with two other people but with not a lot of success.
Canadian Dabrowski is now back and they go into Wimbledon as the second seeds, having made the final at the grass court Grand Slam last year.
World No 3 Routliffe put the last month down to experience.
"It is always tough but it is part of the job with doubles as you can never control your partner," Routliffe told RNZ.
With Dabrowski out the 30-year-old Kiwi played tournaments with Belarusian Victoria Azarenka and Lyudmyla Kichenok, of Ukraine.
"I was lucky to play the last few weeks with different people, so it's been fine but happy to be back (with Dabrowski) for sure."
The pair won the 2023 US Open doubles title and in 2024 made the Australian Open semi-finals and the Wimbeldon final.
They finished last years by winning the WTA Finals in Riyadh.
They reached the Australian Open semi-finals again this year and combined to win the Stuttgart Open.
Routliffe and Dabrowski played one match together in Germany before Wimbledon.
"You just need some time to get back in but we've been practising with a lot of other teams and we have our coaches here so it's been really nice."
Routliffe makes no predictions about the Wimbledon tournament.
"I have no idea, I go one match at a time."
But she is fond of the grass courts at the All England Club.
"I love it, it's one of the meccas of tennis, I love the grass, I love being here.
"It's cool because if you're a tennis fan or not everyone knows Wimbledon and the history. It's an epic place and I'm excited to get going."
Routliffe and Dabrowski play Saisai Zheng and Xinyu Wang from China.
Sun focusing on doubles
Meanwhile, Lulu Sun will pair with Canadian Leylah Fernandez in her first round doubles match tomorrow.
The Te Anau-born player was knocked out of her singles match against Czech Marie Bouzkova 6-4, 6-4.
- additional reporting ODT Online