Frances Tiafoe's girlfriend Ayan Broomfield discloses her emotional journey from junior tennis to NCAA championship after overcoming dire injury

Frances Tiafoe's girlfriend, Ayan Broomfield, recently spoke about her fledgling tennis career, her time playing in the NCAA, and how a shoulder injury had cut short her career. Broomfield has been in a relationship with Tiafoe for a decade.

Tiafoe was recently in action at the Miami Open. He lost in the second round as his troubled year continued. The American beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-5, 7-6 (5) in the first round before losing in three sets to 17th seed Arthur Fils. Tiafoe did well to bounce back and win the second set after conceding the first but was no match in the decider as Fils closed in on a 7-6 (11), 5-7, 6-2 win.

Frances Tiafoe has not had the best of starts to the season. He has not won two consecutive matches in any of the six tournaments he has played in this year, which is a poor start for the World No. 17.

Ayan Broomfield has been by his side at tournaments this year. Her presence could make a difference as the Canadian is a former player and had a career-high singles ranking of 680.

Broomfield recently spoke on the Tennis Channel about how she began her career.

“I began playing tennis as a junior in Ontario, Canada. I got to a high level there, I think I was number one or two as a junior in Canada. And then I started playing ITFs and travelled a lot. I wasn't able to go to regular school because of all the travel and the playing, so I was online homeschooled. I was hoping to play pro before school, but I got injured. I actually tore my shoulder and my parents were like, ‘You're going to school,’” she said (5:44 onwards).

Broomfield then made the transition to college and joined Clemson initially before making the switch to UCLA.

“Initially, Clemson had the number one doubles team and the number one singles player on the team. I really loved the coach. I played there initially and decided I needed more of a push, so I transferred to UCLA. I ended up winning a national championship there in doubles. I played some professional tennis after and got to about 600 WTA singles rankings and 400 doubles rankings,” she added.

Broomfield, who met Frances Tiafoe when she was still an active player on the circuit, also recently acted in the 2021 movie King Richard, a true story based on how Serena and Venus Williams’ father Richard moulded them into tennis players. Broomfield was Venus’ body double in the movie.

Frances Tiafoe's girlfriend Ayan Broomfield discloses her competitiveness while hitting together

Frances Tiafoe and Ayan Broomfield. Source: Getty

Frances Tiafoe's girlfriend, Ayan Broomfield, also recently revealed that she gets competitive when the two hit together. Being a former pro, Broomfield spoke about how the competitive edge kicks in, and she wants to go all out to win points against her pro boyfriend.

In the same interview, she said:

"Frances and I, we will go out and hit a little bit. But I am super competitive, so I’m always ready to play points. He’s like, ‘Ayan, can we just have a chill hit?’"

She went on to cheekily add that she might have figured out Frances Tiafoe’s game as she claimed to have ousted him the last time they played.

"Actually, last time I think I got him. I kind of had the game figured out," Broomfield added.

Frances Tiafoe will hope to get his campaign back on track ahead of the upcoming claycourt season and the French Open.