Routliffe sisters pursue lifelong dreams at U.S. Open, Paralympics — at the same time
Dueling competitions leave father with decision to make over which daughter to watch
New York or Paris?
That was the question facing Rob Routliffe this summer — one that, on the surface, seemed to have no wrong answers.
He could either watch his oldest daughter Erin defend her U.S. Open women's double titles in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., or he could watch his youngest, Tess, swim in pursuit of her second career Paralympic medal at La Defense Arena.
Both competitions are set to begin in late August and run through the first week-plus of September.
Rob chose Paris.
Besides, Rob added, he and Tess were both on hand for Erin's victory — alongside Ottawa's Gabriela Dabrowski — last year.
He said the even-keeled Erin wasn't upset by the decision.
"She's a pretty easy going person. Obviously she's pretty competitive and she can wind herself up, but she understands. All three of my girls have been very athletic and so there were always choices to make as to who went where."
Different international teams
Indeed, Erin and Tess Routliffe have carved out daily successful athletic careers for themselves. Erin and Dabrowski reached World No. 1 status after their Grand Slam victory last year, and kept the good times going with a trip to the Australian Open semifinal in January and Wimbledon final in June. The duo will begin their U.S. Open title defence Wednesday against Canada's Leylah Fernandez and her Kazakh teammate Yulia Putintseva.
Tess, meanwhile, is coming off a 2023 world championship in which she claimed four medals — two of which were gold. A year earlier, she left worlds with a medal of each colour. Paris will mark Tess's first Paralympics since 2016 after a back injury forced her to miss Tokyo 2020.
Even the middle sister, Tara, has an athletic background, having played NCAA volleyball on a full scholarship.
But what makes the whole thing quirky is that, if you look at the flag next to Erin's name while watching the U.S. Open, you won't see a Maple Leaf. Instead, you'll see the Union Jack and four red stars — the emblem of New Zealand.
Tess, however, represents Canada.
"I guess you might say that we had a midlife crisis," Rob said. "So in our mid 30s [my ex-wife and I] sort of packed up and started sailing around the world and we got as far as New Zealand and started having babies."
WATCH | Routliffe wins U.S. Open women's doubles title:
Erin, Tara and Tess were born in Auckland, but count their residence as Caledon, Ont., after moving back when Tess was just six months old.
After winning championships at the collegiate level, Erin had hoped to compete for Canada internationally. But Rob said Tennis Canada didn't show much interest in having Erin try out for Fed Cup teams, while New Zealand was more enthusiastic.
And once Erin made the switch, there was no going back — a shame for Canada, when you consider what she could have accomplished with Dabrowski, who won mixed doubles bronze, at the Olympics.
Instead, Erin and New Zealand teammate Lulu Sun dropped their first-round match at Roland Garros to eventual gold medallists Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani of Italy.
"In hindsight, of course, if Gaby and Erin could have played together, yeah, it would have been wonderful. It would have been obviously a medal threat," Rob said.
Tess rebounds from back injury
Now, it's Tess heading to Paris looking to bring home some hardware.
The 25-year-old, who has dwarfism, will swim four races in her S7 category including the 50 butterfly, 100 freestyle, 100 breaststroke and 200 individual medley.
She said growing up with athletic sisters inspired her to get into sports.
And when she injured her back, Tess leaned on her sisters as "nurses."
"It was a major setback, but I didn't want to let it be. I still wanted to show what I was capable of and there was a lot of pain involved and a lot of emotion, a lot of crying on the way home in my car, but honestly worth it," she said.
WATCH | Tess sets Canadian record in return from injury:
Last year, Tess was on hand when Erin achieved the biggest triumph of her career at the U.S. Open — and the normally stoic swimmer cracked.
"We were all in tears, we were jumping up for joy. It's pretty amazing that people now are recognizing her for what she's done. Like I've watched her, she's had some tough years and she's been through the cracks and all of it but to see her getting the recognition and to achieve one of her biggest goals like in her life, it's unreal."
Soon, Tess could achieve her lifelong dream of becoming a Paralympic champion.
Rob joked that his friends look at him and wonder how he produced such successful athlete daughters.
"It seems wildly improbable. And they both obviously have not just athletic talent, but also this sort of mental toughness that allows them to not just succeed, but persevere. You know about Tessa's back injury and Erin's tennis [career] not too long ago seemed to be a little bit of a dead end.
"Yet they both seem to have this nameless quality and obviously I'm wildly proud of them."
