📹 Ayan Broomfield on changing tennis culture from the stands
On bringing more Black women to tennis, the sport’s lingering racial dynamics, and the creators helping reshape its audience.
Ayan Broomfield is the type of person who greets you like you’re an old friend, even if you’ve only just met. When we arrived at her New York apartment recently to film this interview, she welcomed us with big hugs and easy laughter as we got set up. Dressed in the kind of effortless uniform everyone wishes they could pull off—barefoot in a simple white tank, deep-blue wide-leg denim, and long, perfectly tousled curls grazing her face—she curled up on the couch as we traded tennis gossip before easing into a more serious conversation.
A former Division I tennis player for Clemson University and UCLA, and the girlfriend of Frances Tiafoe, Broomfield has carved out a unique role within tennis culture—a bona fide WAG, yes, but one who’s using her growing influence to make a real impact on the sport. In 2025, Broomfield launched Ayan’s Aces, a program focused on bringing more Black women to tennis tournaments, after attending the Australian Open that year left her stu…
