Olympics 2024: Kiwi tennis star Erin Routliffe explains quitting Canada to represent New Zealand in Paris

Tennis ace Erin Routliffe, the world’s top-ranked doubles player, has become a shooting star in her late 20s.

Along with surprise Wimbledon sensation Lulu Sun, Auckland-born Routliffe – who was raised in Canada – will give New Zealand plenty of hope when the Olympic tennis doubles tournament begins at Roland-Garros this weekend.

Routliffe and her two younger sisters were born in Auckland because their Canadian parents were on a round-the-world sailing trip organised by her lawyer-dad, a sailing buff.

The planned five-year excursion was cut short when her mother became pregnant with Erin. The future sports nut and tennis star spent the first four years of her life in Auckland, the first year of which was spent on the boat.

Nearly three decades later, Routliffe’s sometimes painful tennis journey led her and new doubles partner Gaby Dabrowski from Canada to claim the 2023 US Open title and make this year’s Wimbledon final, helping propel Routliffe to the world number one ranking.

Erin Routliffe chats about her dreams for New Zealand tennis, what led to the switch of allegiance, her amazing Paralympian sister, a Wimbledon courtside meltdown last year, earliest memories of Auckland, life on the road as a tennis pro and more.

Arriving in Paris must have felt like a dream come true?

The other athletes and anyone else in the house welcomed us with the haka. It was amazing – I didn’t think I would like it that much but I loved it. It gave me full-body chills.

Olympic doubles can be an unknown quantity…

The Olympics are different because people who have never played together combine for their country. There are a lot of new combinations so it’s a bit weird and you can’t do much scouting. I think it’s more about the energy you bring, the fight.

Lulu and I played one FedCup match together, in April, and I have seen her play quite a lot now. She is an amazing player. We played well in that one match together and it’s helpful to have had that.

Do you like playing on clay and how does it influence doubles?

It is my least favourite surface because the points are a bit longer, it takes away from the big serves and big shots, and I’m pretty powerful. But I’ve had decent success on clay.

With Lulu growing up in Europe, where they play a lot on clay, she is very comfortable on that surface which is nice to know.

Clay is kind of fun for doubles because it makes the rallies longer and there is more feel involved, more lob and drop shots.

Congratulations on your number one world ranking and Grand Slam 2023 US Open victory – is reaching number one like winning a title?

I’m not into the rankings so much. I didn’t even know until a reporter asked how it felt. But if you had told me it would happen a year ago, I would have said you are crazy.

It helped me get into the Olympics which was one of my ultimate goals and means Gaby (Dabrowski) and I can try to peak at certain times, rather than try to win every single match we play. Now it is more of a process.

What is the impact on your singles career

I don’t think I’ve played singles for over 18 months. I’ve realised to be one of the top doubles players in the world - and I am getting older – I’ll just stick to that.

It has been a long road to the top – how many doubles partners have you had? How do you find each other?

I don’t know… a lot, maybe 30 to 50 on the pro circuit. You look for someone with a game that will work with yours, and you want to find someone you will mesh with on court. You see someone play, you text them: “Do you want to play?”

It is a nervous situation… you are trying to bring out the best in them, and they are trying to bring out the best in you. That’s something I love about doubles but it is also one of the most difficult things. You never really know until you get to feel the energy on court.

With Gaby and I, we have had a lot of tough conversations about what we want, need, and what we don’t like. It’s something I’ve got better at.

I’m an emotional player and I’ve learned to manage that. Gaby has as well. We still have moments where I might say something and not mean it, and vice versa.

Little snaps… we’re stressed, we might look angry or give a bad look but we don’t mean it like that. We talk about it. Ultimately we are fighting for the same goal.

Does it help to get on well off the court?

It depends on the people but I’ve learned that I’m better when I have space from my doubles partner. It’s more like a business partnership, where you care about the other person. Some people play better with their friends, and others with people they don’t spend time with.

Did you have a childhood hero?

I always loved Juan Martin del Potro, the Argentinian player. He had a huge game – his forehand was massive. He would finish points with one humungous punch. I liked his on-court demeanour too – he was mainly pretty calm and quiet yet with random outbursts of complete emotion.

Similar to you?

Oh no. I’m pretty fiery. I wear my heart on my sleeve… and I’ve learned to like that. You can see every emotion on my face, although I’ve worked hard on not being so up and down.

You changed allegiance to New Zealand in 2017 – did it seem like the better path to the Olympics. What was your reason?

I don’t think it was about an easier path. Growing up, New Zealand was always a part of me. My parents always told me about it, and I was curious and intrigued.

When I wanted to play professionally, I felt the people in New Zealand believed in me. I didn’t feel that support in Canada, the belief that I could do something in the sport.

Once I spent some time in New Zealand I loved it and gelled with a lot of people.

Ultimately, I want to make tennis more popular in New Zealand, breed success for years to come, and make people see what is possible. Mike Venus and Marcus Daniell winning a medal in Tokyo helps a lot, and now with Lulu… it’s much better when there is a group to look up to. This is an exciting time.

Even coming into the Olympic house, I’ve already had people say they have been following us and that people back home were talking about tennis which is what we love to hear.

Do you recall anything of New Zealand before leaving to live in Canada when you were four?

Random things… we had a long driveway, and our neighbour was an older woman who gave me chocolate. There are little things… dad would tell us about hokey pokey ice cream, like all the time. Our parents would tell us stories and show us photos of their trip.

They wanted to stay there forever, they kept a house outside of Auckland until I was about 13. They had definite plans to go back but life happened.

They were never married – they separated when I was in high school That was hard, but we’re on the back end of that now, which is nice. They both live outside of Toronto.

I went back and lived in Mt Eden for a year and a half after graduating (with a degree in public relations) from the University of Alabama. New Zealand is so far from everywhere else which is tough in a sport where you travel 10 months of the year. I changed my base back to Montreal and Toronto but I return to New Zealand for Christmas every year.

Your youngest sister Tess, who has dwarfism, is a Paralympian swimmer competing for Canada in Paris this year… do you inspire each other?

Totally. Tess was always like a fish growing up but never took it seriously, and only started competing aged 14. Three years later, she won a medal at the Rio Olympics, the craziest stat ever.

We’re very different personality-wise. I have to work hard to work hard. Her work ethic came naturally.

Watching her in Rio is one of the top five moments of my entire life. I cried like a baby.

She missed the Tokyo Games because of a horror injury, breaking her back in a gym accident. To go through that as a family was hard.

She goes to her second Paralympics in September, which is epic. She has two rods and two screws in her back, and has completely changed her movement, but is still swimming personal best times. She’s incredible.

Was it tough for her growing up?

She has a thick skin. She was always a very happy kid with a ton of friends. I think the hardest thing was having us as annoying older siblings making fun of her… you know what it is like with siblings.

How do you unwind? Hobbies? Interests?

I love spending time with family and friends. I try to bring my two sisters on a trip with me at least once or twice a year because we are really close. Being on the road all of the time can be very lonely although obviously I have Gaby now. But there’s still a lot of downtime. I love going to concerts and watch a lot of Netflix.

Your best concert was…

Taylor Swift. Easy. I’m a die-hard Swifty. The thing I find so impressive is she is still relevant after 20 years. Her marketing is unreal, she works really hard, and deserves all her success. I recently saw her in London, three times before that, and have tickets to see her again in November.

How tough is life on the road?

I live out of a suitcase and pack up every single week. What’s crazy to me is even many other athletes don’t understand that.

At the same time, I’m travelling the world, seeing all these cool cities.

But every single night is in a hotel room, alone, in a city we don’t know…it can be very hard.

I’m proud (to have emerged from the tough times) because there were a lot of super low moments and I quit for six months in 2019 and worked in a tanning salon.

But that made me appreciate the sport and I wanted to know that I had given tennis my all.

Just last year, at Wimbledon, we [partner Alexa Guarachi of Chile] had a match point and lost, and had lost in the first round at maybe eight tournaments in a row.

I had a full mental breakdown on the side of the Wimbledon court. I was bawling my eyes out with one of my coaches Bruce Lipka, thinking ‘what am I doing?’.

He was trying to tell me “this is all for a reason”. I was like “you are f***ing crazy – this is not for a reason”.

I was working so hard and thought I was playing well. That was in July. In September, we [Routliffe and Dabrowski] won the US Open. It is one of the hard things about tennis, but it is also a beautiful thing. Your life can change in a few weeks, which is crazy.

And now the Olympics, with Lulu Sun, whose story echoes yours in a way…

It’s weird… I say that to people… it’s funny how she was born in New Zealand and left when she was 4 or 5, which is very similar to me, which is kind of nice.

She is really sweet with a great family, and has already had amazing experiences at the age of 23. Her game is humungous. She has a good doubles ranking but is singles focused so there will be a leadership aspect for me, which I don’t have with Gaby.