Why Wimbledon has been so pivotal in Erin Routliffe's career

Erin Routliffe’s only grand slam win so far was at last year’s US Open, but when it comes to milestone moments in her career, it’s Wimbledon that’s been the most significant place for her.

Routliffe and her regular partner Gabby Dabrowski are the No 2 seeds for this year’s grass-court grand slam and in the first round, take on Mirra Andreeva and Anastasia Potapova.

They go into the ladies doubles draw as one of the teams to beat, but it hasn’t always been like this for the Auckland-born 29-year-old.

In 2018 she and Alexa Guarachi won two matches in qualifying to make it into the main draw for the first time.

A year later she turned up at Wimbledon, not knowing if she’d get in with Madison Brengle, but after hanging around for a few days on the alternate list, they made it in, only to again lose in the first round. 

In 2022 she made it to the quarterfinals with Alicja Rosolska, but last year, once more with Guarachi she again failed to get past the first round.

It was a tough three-set loss against Irina-Camelia Begu and Anhelina Kalinina, but it turned out to be the most pivotal moment in Routliffe’s career so far, as she and Guarachi decided to split as a team following that match and not long afterwards she partnered up with Dabrowski.

It was perhaps a sliding doors moment in Routliffe’s career. Had she and Guarachi won a few matches at Wimbledon last year, they could have decided to stick together.

But Routliffe’s career has reached new heights since partnering with the Dabrowski and reflecting on her years at Wimbledon, she says there’s been a lot of water that’s gone under the bridge.

“I’ve learned a lot,” Routliffe said. 

“It’s hard to compare myself to the person who played a few years ago as an alternate.

“I’m really excited, I’ve always loved being at Wimbledon and playing here and I believe that Gabby and I as a team can achieve anything if we stick together. 

“It feels like it was so long ago, but I guess it wasn’t. This is everything I’ve been working towards for years, so I’m grateful, excited and looking forward to another opportunity.” 

Less than two months after teaming up, Routliffe and Dabrowski won the US Open. That fortnight in New York confirmed them as one of the best doubles teams in the world and they’ve continued to be successful, reaching four WTA finals since then.

“I knew that our games clicked, but we had a lot to learn about each other, and we’re still learning,” Routliffe said.

“But our games suit each other well and I think we knew that, even from not playing together, but watching each other play before the partnership started.

“It’s like the vibe on court, how you deal with each other when you’re nervous and the energy.

“You can’t really feel that until you play together. I couldn’t have imagined how good we were together, but I’m glad it’s working out now.

“We are still learning about each other. We haven’t yet played together for a year, so it’s still relatively new.”

Routliffe and Dabrowski enter Wimbledon on the back of playing in the final in Eastbourne, where they lost 10-8 in the super tiebreaker to Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok.

In their semifinal, against Cristina Bucsa and Makoto Ninomiya they won the super tiebreaker 10-8 and it goes with the territory of being a professional doubles player that matches regularly finish with this scoreline. It’s how you deal with it that’s crucial.

“I’m getting better at handling it,” Routliffe said. 

“You lose every week if you don’t win the tournament and everyone has to lose. It’s easier to learn when you’re losing, so that’s the way I’m taking it now.

“But when you’re really competitive and have grown up when everything is wins and losses, I’m still very competitive.

“Losing isn’t fun, but I know what I need to do and keep working on. So it’s part of the life, you move on.”

Routliffe watched all of Lulu Sun’s Wimbledon qualifying matches online when she was playing at Eastbourne and she also went out to see her incredible win over China’s Zheng Qinwen in the main draw on Monday.

Like everyone connected with New Zealand tennis, Routliffe is thrilled at seeing Sun do so well.

“It’s amazing,” she said. 

“She’s such a sweet girl and I’m really happy for her.

“It’s great for tennis in New Zealand and me and her are alike in that we were born in New Zealand and moved away when we were young. So we have the multiple country alliances, which is cool.

“It’s amazing to have someone playing singles in the main draw of a slam, because that’s what everyone aspires to do. I love it.”