Racquets and Relationships
Tiafoe on partner Broomfield: ‘The key to a very successful man is a strong woman’
American star reflects on importance of Broomfield in his life
March 26, 2026
Gerald Matzka/Getty Images for Laver Cup
Frances Tiafoe and Ayan Broomfield at the Laver Cup in 2024.
By Andrew Eichenholz
Frances Tiafoe has been a crowd favourite since turning pro in 2015, entertaining countless fans around the world with his joie de vivre and competitive spirit. The American will try to use that to his advantage at Hard Rock Stadium Thursday afternoon when he plays World No. 2 Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals of the Miami Open presented by Itau.
But at the start of the season, Tiafoe was not flying quite as high as he is now. Having lost his final five matches of 2025, the Maryland native hired a new team led by Mark Kovacs and had heart-to-heart conversations to those close to him, including longtime partner Ayan Broomfield, whom he met in person aged 15.
“The key to a very successful man, I think it’s a lot of things. But I think number one is a strong woman in your corner,” Tiafoe told ATPTour.com last month. “A lot of times, it’ll just ground you… And I think a lot of times, when you don’t have that because you’re all over the map, they can be detail oriented, they kind of paint the picture for you, help guide you to somewhere you’re trying to go.
“Sometimes they believe in you more than you believe in yourself. And that’s helped me a lot, so shout out to her.” View All Racquets & Relationships Features
From Tiafoe’s journey to the Top 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings and two US Open semi-finals and opportunities like he will have against Sinner in Miami, Broomfield has always been in the American’s corner.
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Not every ATP Tour star’s partner can emphasise with the highs and lows of incredible victories and devastating defeats like Broomfield, the 2019 NCAA women’s doubles champion with Gabby Andrews while a student-athlete at UCLA. Broomfield reached No. 680 in the PIF WTA Rankings.
“Ayan was nice, but then they almost forget. They get amnesia and forget how nice they were, start giving you advice like you was damn near Serena,” Tiafoe said, cracking a laugh. “But seriously, it’s nice to come home and vent and be like, ‘Man, the match, what do you think?’ Because it’s hard. This sport, it’s hard to really understand it if you’re not really in it. And obviously the lifestyle.
“So she’s been critical not only for my career, but for my life. She’s so solid. She’s been there for me for so many years, and happy to have her, very important.”
Once in a while, Tiafoe and Broomfield still step on the court together. But it is not always a perfect experience.
“Hate it. Hate every second of it. She’s going to tell you the same,” Tiafoe said, laughing. “Sometimes I want to hit with her up and down and she wants to play points, cheating me and sh**. But it’s fun to be able to, if I wanted to, especially when I’m done, and we want to go ahead and have an exo, we can just go and hit and joke around, because she still hits the ball nicely. She’s funny, man.”
It is also important to Tiafoe to be there to support Broomfield the same way she does for him. Broomfield has not only built a significant following of her own and represented various brands, but she has given back to those around her through the initiative Ayan’s Aces, the Ayan Broomfield Foundation and more.
“I’m happy. Super happy for her… It’s just nice. It’s about her being happy, man,” Tiafoe said. “She sacrificed a lot for me to be in the place I am. Been with me. Happy she’s able to do things that she’s happy about. In the crazy life that we live right now, to be able to maximise this whole crazy thing we’re doing and her finding business within it and still for us to be around each other on a high clip, it’s great.”