Kate told Gabriela Dabrowski at Wimbledon on Saturday that it was amazing she was still playing tennis while undergoing cancer treatment and said she was inspirational, in a brief meeting that left the 34-year-old emotional. Dabrowski, who is due to play the ladies’ doubles final on Centre Court on Sunday, said the encounter was a beautiful moment.
The meeting happened during Wimbledon, where Dabrowski has kept competing throughout treatment after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2024. She said Kate also spoke about sport as proof that the body can still be strong, a remark that carried extra weight coming from someone who revealed in 2024 that she was being treated for cancer herself.
Dabrowski said she did not expect to be moved, but was surprised by how much the exchange meant to her. She described it as a strange feeling, and said she loved that Kate loves her sport too.
The moment also cut against the usual expectation that cancer treatment slows elite athletes down to the point where competition becomes impossible. Dabrowski has kept playing through treatment, and the fact that she was set for a Grand Slam final the next day gave the conversation a sharper edge than a routine royal greeting.
Kate had been public about her own treatment, and at the end of June she took on the Three Peaks Challenge in aid of the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. The challenge involves climbing the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales within 24 hours, a test of endurance that fits the same message she gave Dabrowski about strength and sport.
For Dabrowski, the immediate next step was the ladies’ doubles final on Sunday. What remained less clear was how long she would continue hormone therapy beyond the few more years she has said are left, even as she keeps doing the one thing treatment is least supposed to allow: competing at the highest level.
Shirley Rodriguez Yugsi, 11, also had her own Wimbledon moment on Sunday when she performed the coin toss for the ladies’ singles final after years in the Wimbledon Junior Tennis Initiative. She called meeting the princess unbelievable, another small scene that showed how closely this Wimbledon was tied to the Princess of Wales and Dabrowski’s emotional exchange.
